New Zealand is set to create a marine sanctuary in the South Pacific that covers 620,000 square kilometers (240,000 square miles) — an area about the size of France.
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will be about 620 miles off the northeast coast of New Zealand, and is home to thousands of species of whales, dolphins, seabirds and turtles, as well as the world's longest underwater volcanic arc and the second deepest ocean trench. The future sanctuary "is one of the most geographically and geologically diverse areas in the world," Prime Minister John Key said Monday. Scientists often find new marine species in the area, and with the sanctuary designation, fishing and mineral exploitation will be forbidden, Agence France-Presse reports. With this addition, there will be 3.5 million square kilometers (1.35 million square miles) of protected areas in the Pacific.
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