Throughout the world’s tremendous expanse of ocean, only 1 percent is protected as marine reserves. In order to protect and foster the ocean’s wildlife, the United Kingdom is pursuing total protection of the 2.6 million square miles of waters around its 14 overseas territories, an area more than double the size of India.

The latest location to begin protecting its waters is Ascension Island, located in the Atlantic Ocean between South America and Africa. The UK announced the establishment of the 90,460-square-mile reserve in January, just about 3,500 square miles smaller than the UK itself. Before the reserve can officially be established, Ascension will zone off over half of its surrounding waters to prohibit fishing in attempts to further assess the suitability of the location and potential benefits to the communities.

This follows the UK's creation of one of the world's largest contiguous marine reserves, at 322,138 square miles (about 3.5 times the size of the UK), around the Pacific's Pitcairn Islands in 2015.

These marine reserves are sections of the ocean that prohibit commercial fishing, to support and replenish the sea life in the area. As 94 percent of the UK's biodiversity lives in the overseas territories, preserving those waters has become a priority for the country.

The now-protected water around the southern half of Ascension is home to many species, including tuna, marlin and sharks, as well as the endangered green sea turtle, which nests on the beaches. Additionally, Ascension has 11 endemic fish species, such as the bastard cunningfish and the resplendent angelfish.

"Ascension is a hotspot of biodiversity in the Atlantic due to the topography of the ocean floor, the oceanographic currents and associated upwellings," says Lauren Nelson, project officer for Blue Marine Foundation, a British charity dedicated to establishing reserves. She notes that the deep waters could also potentially harbor undiscovered species.

Among the fish, Ascension Island is home to many invertebrates, such as mollusks, decapods and echinoderms. Due to the grazing of the black triggerfish, many of these invertebrates only come out in the darkness. The waters around the island are also free from coral reefs, with coralline red algae growing on the rocks instead, says Dr. Andy Richardson, who has been managing the Darwin Initiative-funded Ascension Island Marine Sustainability project for the past two years.

The magnitude of pelagic creatures is sure to be a sight for scuba divers who wish to visit the island, though Ascension is not known for its easy accessibility. Nelson says the only way to reach it is by Royal Air Force plane or by boat from South Africa. Nonetheless, divers are welcomed by 71-degree waters in August to 82-degree waters in February, with clear visibility year-round.

Because of its small tourism industry, Ascension has no commercial dive clubs, meaning divers often have to explore on their own. For that reason, we suggest only experienced divers explore the island's waters.

Similarly, Pitcairn is only accessible by boat, but has a larger tourism industry. Divers are able to explore wrecks such as the historic HMAV Bounty and the Cornwallis, as well as island-hop around the four masses that make up Pitcairn, each with its own assortment of sea life.

After researching the hotspots around the island, the UK Foreign Office and the Ascension Island government will work toward setting the parameters for the reserve. In order to ensure commercial fishing vessels stay outside of the protected area, satellite monitoring systems have been put in place to send information to patrol ships on the whereabouts of nearby fishing vessels. Traditionally, commercial fisheries have set up in the area to catch migratory bigeye and yellowfin tuna.

Richardson says larger creatures, such as the blue shark, are vulnerable to being bycaught by these vessels. Although the efforts could save a few of these creatures, the possibility of being captured is still out there.

"While closing areas to fishing could reduce the capture of such species, they also tend to be migratory and would still remain at risk as they move outside any closed areas," he says.

While Ascension’s protected waters cover about 52 percent of its exclusive economic zone, Pitcairn's reserve, as well as the reserve around the Indian Ocean’s Chagos Islands, are all-encompassing, spanning 200 nautical miles around the entire islands.

The islanders in Pitcairn were unanimously supportive of the reserve from the very beginning, Nelson says. As for Ascension, BLUE is working with the locals to maintain their support through the end.

"The main issue with Ascension is that they have very limited sources of income, and so a large part of the negotiations has been around the funding of the reserve, so it doesn’t fall to the Ascension islanders themselves," Nelson says.

BLUE’s next likely endeavor is to work toward securing the protection of the rest of Ascension’s territories, St. Helena and Tristan de Cunha, Nelson says. Overall, BLUE hopes to help complete the UK’s “Blue Belt,” with reserves in all of its overseas territories.