The Coral Sea Natural Park protects the entire EEZ of New Caledonia: a virtuous balance between resource use and conservation.

La New Caledonia It is home to one of the richest and most diverse marine ecosystems on the planet: coral reefs that extend for thousands of kilometers, lagoons populated by humpback whales and dugongs, seamounts, and hundreds of species of fish and other animals, including several sea turtles.

This heritage is today protected by one of the largest marine protected areas in the world, which covers 100% of the country's territorial waters. Coral Sea Natural Park, which aims to enter the IUCN Green List, must therefore also address the economic and production needs of local communities. Therefore, its strategy is based on a virtuous balance between the use and conservation of marine resources, which finds a concrete example in the short supply chain dedicated toblue shrimp farming.

The incredible biodiversity of the seas of New Caledonia

Excellent guardian of the eastern side of the Coral SeaNew Caledonia is home to the second largest coral reef in the world. The country's coral reefs extend for over 1.600 kilometers and are home to more than 14 species, including over 600 coral species. Over 50% of the country's surface area is covered with coral. coral reefs and of the planet's overseas lagoons is found here: the lagoon formed by the coral reef extends for 24.000 kilometers.

But the waters of the New Caledonia They are also home to humpback whales, a large population of dugongs, whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) and several species of sea turtles – including the green turtle (Chelonia mydas), classified by the IUCN as an endangered species – which lay their eggs here.

A particularly emblematic species of the faunal richness of the seas of this French territory in the Pacific is the nautilus from the navel (Nautilus macromphalus), a cephalopod endemic to the waters of New Caledonia and north-eastern Australia protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Even moving on land, New Caledonia presents the richest species diversity per square kilometer in the world, and is home to many unique species, especially birds and plants. Its endemicity rate is among the highest in the world: 80% of the more than 3 flowering plant species found on the islands are found only here.

This is due to the origin of these territories, which together with the New Zealand lands are part of the zealand, an almost completely submerged mass of continental crust that separated from the supercontinent of Gondwana about 80 million years ago, creating conditions of isolation that allowed the evolution of animals and plants unique in the world.

Coral Sea National Park on the way to the IUCN Green List

In July 2008, the coral reefs and lagoons of New Caledonia were recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage SiteAs stated on the UNESCO website, this area has the most diverse concentration of coral structures in the world, but also “healthy populations of large predators and a large number and diversity of large fish". Furthermore,

“New Caledonia’s lagoons provide habitat for numerous emblematic and threatened marine species, such as turtles, whales, and dugongs, whose population here is the third largest in the world.”

For the same reasons, in 2014, New Caledonia established a marine protected area covering the 100% of its territorial waters: with an area of 1,3 million square kilometers, home to the best preserved coral reefs in the world, islets and seamounts and ecosystems still partly unknown, the Coral Sea Natural Park It is one of the largest marine protected areas on the planet.

As he explained Manuel Ducrocq, head of the Park, in a recent interview with the Agence Française de Développement, New Caledonia is home to 30% of all coral reefs considered close to their wild state, which is just 1,5% of those present in the world.

As of the beginning of 2024, 10% of the fleet has been placed under strict protection, to confirm the country's commitment to protecting its natural resources, which are especially endangered by mining. The goal is to become part of the IUCN Green List, the first global standard for the evaluation of Protected Areas. The certification lasts 5 years, explains Ducrocq, so one is "obliged" to raise one's standards and make a plan on the long period.

Sustainable resource use and conservation: Blue shrimp farming in New Caledonia

The Coral Sea National Park does not limit itself to protecting the coral reefs and lagoons of the southernmost archipelago of Melanesia:

The remote Chesterfield and Entrecasteaux atolls are among the world's densest nesting sites for sea turtles and green turtles. Whales come here every year from the Southern Hemisphere to breed in the lagoons of New Caledonia. The underwater mountains of the Coral Sea National Park are considered by the Kanak people to be the resting place of their souls. There is a strong cultural connection between the local populations and their marine space, which is why the spirit of the marine park is based on a balance between use and conservation.

explains Ducrocq.

A concrete example is theblue shrimp farming (Litopenaeus stylirostris), also supported by the Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (Ifremer), which since the 1970s has been responsibly exploiting the coastal spaces located between the mangrove swamp and the arable land, which had been unused for a long time. As explained Benoit Soulard of Ifremer,

"The producer isn't just raising shrimp, but an entire ecosystem (phytoplankton, zooplankton, and other species introduced by pumping into the reservoir). It's this balance that must be maintained."

The Pacific Blue Shrimp is a fish species with great commercial value, but here there are no intensive farms: we are talking about approximately 20 shrimp per square meter in basins ranging from 2 to 12 hectares, compared to over 100 specimens per square meter in intensive farms.

Furthermore, thanks to Ifremer's studies, antibiotics, chemical supplements and artificial ventilation are limited, and today work is underway to replace fish meal with insect meal and microalgae-based solutions. Today, New Caledonia boasts 18 farms, four hatcheries, two feed producers, and a packaging plant.

Here are three insights that might interest you:

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Rising Seas: “If We Save the Pacific, We Save the World”