Glorious pictures of pristine marine protected areas around the world

June 8, 2019

A large school of horse-eye jack fish swim in the Cabo Pulmo Nature Reserve in Baja, Mexico, created in 1995. Since the coral reef there was protected, marine life has rebounded to levels seen on pristine coral reefs.
Photograph by Josh Humbert, Nat Geo Image Collection
Protected elkhorn corals, brain corals and purple sea fans at Buck Island Reef National Monument, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Photograph by Brian Skerry, Nat Geo Image Collection
The Seychelles' Saint Joseph Island, once a coconut plantation, is now a nature reserve with a marine protected area.
Photograph by Thomas P. Peschak, Nat Geo Image Collection
Black margates school off the reef at Hol Chan Marine Reserve, the oldest in Belize. It was created in 1987.
Photograph by Brian Skerry, Nat Geo Image Collection
An American crocodile swims in Cuba's Gardens of the Queen National Marine Park.
Photograph by Photogaraph by Jennifer Hayes, Nat Geo Image Collection
A whitetip reef shark swims over regrown coral in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, in the Republic of Kiribati. Kiribati straddles the equator about midway between Australia and Hawaii.
Photograph by Brian Skerry, Nat Geo Image Collection
Bottlenose dolphins swim in the Indian Ocean in the Ponta Do Oro Marine Reserve, Mozambique.
Photograph by Thomas P. Peschak, Nat Geo Image Collection
Rough seas in the south central Pacific Ocean. The Phoenix Island Protected Area is in the Republic of Kiribati.
Photograph by Brian Skerry, Nat Geo Image Collection

You might also like

Environment
Big earthquakes might make sea level rise worse. Here's how.
Environment
See Russia’s massive new gas plant on the Arctic coast
Environment
You eat thousands of bits of plastic every year
Environment
Rainforests, explained
Environment
Tornadoes: The science behind the destruction