Glorious pictures of pristine marine protected areas around the world
Published 8 Jun 2019, 08:41 BST, Updated 16 Sept 2020, 10:02 BST

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 CollectionProtected 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 CollectionThe 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 CollectionBlack 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 CollectionAn American crocodile swims in Cuba's Gardens of the Queen National Marine Park.
Photograph by Photogaraph by Jennifer Hayes, Nat Geo Image CollectionA 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 CollectionBottlenose dolphins swim in the Indian Ocean in the Ponta Do Oro Marine Reserve, Mozambique.
Photograph by Thomas P. Peschak, Nat Geo Image CollectionRough 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