The island nation is also threatened by the warming temperatures and rising sea levels brought on by climate change. Healthy reef ecosystems can help to mitigate climate change and have positive effects on the environment, so establishing marine protected areas will help Seychelles in the long run.
Great barracudas are one of the myriad marine species that populate the waters of Aldabra Atoll.
Photograph by Manu San Félix, National Geographic Pristine Seas
To investigate the hidden threats to the island ecosystem, Rose and the Pristine Seas expedition team completed 260 dives in Seychelles. With information gathered from their fieldwork, they then submitted a scientific report and short film to back up the claim that the marine area needed to be protected.
“It’s got to be science-based,” Rose says. “And so we agreed to fill those gaps, fill in those missing pieces of the jigsaw, as it were. This helped the Seychelles government to make the decision that they made today. “
In the future, the hope is that Seychelles can continue to be the pristine tourist destination many people see it as today.
“This reinforces the view that people have of Seychelles,” Rose says. “It will probably surprise a lot of people that this [protection] would even be needed.”
Source link : https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/seychelles-marine-protected-area-pristine-seas-spd
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Publish date : 2018-02-21 08:00:00
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