Beneath the vivid turquoise of Türkiye’s Gökova Bay, life slowly faded. Marine scientist Zafer Kizilkaya’s trained eye could size up the damage, but even he was stunned by the data. In 2008, the bay had the lowest fish biomass of any area in the Mediterranean, the world’s most overfished sea. “Even no microalgae existed at that time,” said Kizilkaya.
Gökova’s 62-mile stretch of coastline once sustained a vibrant marine ecosystem and local fishing communities. But rising tourism starting in the 1990s saw the spread of coastal development and shoreline plastic pollution. Climate change brought warming seas and invasive species that disrupted the ecological balance of aquatic life. Destructive fishing depleted local stocks. The coastal economy was left in shambles.
Kizilkaya quickly sprang into action. In 2012, he launched the Mediterranean Conservation Society, a nonprofit that protects endangered species and their habitat. He and his colleagues established a marine park with no-fishing zones off the coast. Within four years, sea life in Gökova rebounded. Small-scale fishers did, too: Their income quadrupled between 2010 and 2015. “The fishers told me fishing has never been that [so] great in [Gökova] Bay,” Kizilkaya said. Buoyed by the success, Kizilkaya persuaded the Turkish government to expand marine parks along nearly 310 miles of coast, a feat that in 2023 earned him a Goldman Environmental Prize, often called the Green Nobel.
Gökova’s troubles fit a familiar pattern. Globally, over 75% of fish species like tuna and cod are overfished or collapsed, and about 10% of marine species are at risk of extinction. Industrial fishing is among the top drivers of the decline. Thousands of industrial vessels roam freely across the ocean with little regulation or oversight.
In 2023, after years of negotiating guardrails against destructive activity, world leaders adopted a United Nations treaty that offers a legal mechanism to establish protected areas in the high seas that lie outside national jurisdictions. As the UN Ocean Conference concluded in France last week, 19 additional countries had ratified the treaty, edging the count, now at 50, closer to the 60 needed to trigger its entry into force. Campaigners are optimistic they’ll reach the threshold within weeks, according to a statement from the High Seas Alliance.
Protection of coastal waters, where most seafood is sourced, is harder to navigate in part because nearshore communities rely on marine resources for income and sustenance. As things stand, just 8.2% of the world’s oceans are managed as protected areas, with just 3% placing strict restrictions on economic activity. To meet the so-called 30×30 target of protecting 30% of the world’s sea and land by 2030, almost 190,000 new marine parks would need to be created at the rate of 85 each day for the next six years. Now, in the image of Gökova Bay, a new initiative called Revive Our Oceanseeks to accelerate the pace—with the help and to the benefit of coastal communities.
Revive Our Ocean is spearheaded by Kristin Rechberger, CEO of the conservation group Dynamic Planet, and Dr. Enric Sala, head of the National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas program and the scientist who led the study that inspired Gökova’s conservation initiative. “What we’re proposing through Revive Our Ocean is to inspire, enable, and equip coastal communities to create their own marine reserves,” said Rechberger.
The project draws on schemes that paid off for local people while conserving coastal biodiversity in Latin America, Asia, and Europe, including Türkiye. “We want to really parse into the patterns and look at how we replicate and scale faster,” said Rechberger.
Some 53 million small-scale fishers account for 44% of the economic value of all fish globally. A model that empowers them to take the lead to protect their coastal areas isn’t the only solution, but it must be part of the equation, according to Rashid Sumaila, a professor at the University of British Columbia. ”It can be done more,” he said. “No question about that.”
Revive Our Ocean launched in April, shortly before the release of the documentary Ocean with David Attenborough, which Sala and Rechberger executive produced.
The film features rare footage of bottom trawling, a destructive fishing technique still allowed and even subsidized in some areas officially under protection. As vast nets held by heavy chains sweep the sea floor, scooping up sea creatures and releasing long-locked carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the British broadcaster narrates the fallout before putting forward a solution: no-take marine parks that ban fishing altogether.
“The science is very clear,” said Sala, who also served as scientific advisor on the film. “The only way for marine life to really recover is through fully protected areas.”
“Conservation is something that is seen by many as a luxury or as a cost. But actually, we could develop conservation businesses everywhere. Every coastal town should have one.”
Dr. Enric Sala
head of the National Geographic Society's Pristine Seas program
While popular among conservationists, the tactic often proves unattractive to communities that rely on ocean resources to make a living. But protected areas don’t work without community buy-in, Sumaila said. Although industry is often the biggest force behind opposition, persuading local people of how they can benefit is crucial.
There’s growing evidence that fisheries and economies can flourish around fully protected areas. As aquatic life bounces back, larvae and adult fish spill over into surrounding areas, boosting stocks outside no-take zones. That means a bigger catch and new opportunities for income through tourism. “Those are both great businesses,” said Rechberger. “Why should [marine reserves] be philanthropic and on grants when they could actually be businesses reinvesting back in the marine environment for long-term sustainability?”
Revive Our Ocean is setting out to prove the case. “This could be the first wave of marine conservation businesses on the planet,” said Sala.
“The economic argument is clearly on the table at the moment,” said Vivienne Solís Rivera, a biologist with CopeSolidar, a social justice and conservation cooperative in Costa Rica. But governments promoting a sustainable “blue economy” tend to align with big businesses, she argued, while coastal communities struggle to survive with little say on access rights to the sea and the activities that threaten it. She believes promoting economic benefits for small-scale fishers is the right approach, but implementation is tricky. “We have been pushing for changing the narrative,” said Solís Rivera, “at least to think a little bit about distribution of benefits out of conservation.”
There’s no blueprint for marine parks. How well they work depends on design and whether they address the right environmental goals. Compliance with the rules is a big problem, too. Without monitoring and enforcement of harmful activities like trawling, they become mere “paper parks”: protected on paper, but not in practice.
Revive our Ocean plans to offer communities tools and best practices drawn from successful examples of grassroots marine conservation. But the first step, making the case that no-take zones can boost income, may be the hardest. It takes time for local fishers to see the benefits. In Gökova Bay, it took at least four years. Communities need reassurances and alternatives to soften the financial blow until fish stocks pick up, said Sumaila. The long-term implications for fishers’ way of life and heritage matter too.
Historically, ocean conservation has rested with coastal groups. Now, their contributions are overshadowed—sometimes even replaced—by national initiatives, said Solís Rivera. In short, their needs get lost in the race to 30×30.
The path ahead might require a new mindset. “Conservation is something that is seen by many as a luxury or as a cost,” said Sala. “But actually, we could develop conservation businesses everywhere. Every coastal town should have one.”
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