The plan has also introduced nine new marine protected areas that cover 30 percent of the Samoa’s ocean, an area of 35,936 square kilometres, and prohibits fishing within a migration route for humpback whales.

Credits: Unsplash; Author: Milos Prelevic;

These new MPAs meet Samoa’s 30x30 ocean commitment, part of a worldwide agreement to protect 30 percent of Earth’s land and ocean by 2030 that countries made at the 2022 U.N. Biodiversity Conference.