Phoenix Islands Protected Area

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area covers 408,250 square kilometres of ocean and islands around the Phoenix group, one of the three island groups of Kiribati. It includes eight islands, two submerged reefs and at least 14 seamounts, yet its land area is only about 25 square kilometres. About 200 coral species, 500 fish species, 18 marine mammals and 44 bird species are known there.

Orona holds an ancient stone marae and other remains of prehistoric Polynesian habitation. Most of the islands were reported by European and American whalers in the early 19th century; McKean was the first to be reported, by the British captain Henry Barber in 1794. Several islands were mined for guano in the 19th century, and from 1938 the British Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme brought settlers, but drought and the falling copra market led to their abandonment by 1963.

In 2008 the government of Kiribati designated the area a protected area, then the largest marine protected area in the world. It was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2010, and from 1 January 2015 all commercial extraction, including tuna fishing, was banned throughout. In November 2021 the government announced it would end the protected area to boost tuna fishing, and commercial fishing reopened in 2023.