David Attenborough’s new film Ocean claims that less than 3% of the Ocean is protected. Here’s why.

By Nikki Harasta | June 3, 2025

At the legendary age of 99, following a decades-long career as the voice for a planet now on the brink of climate collapse, David Attenborough delivers an important message to his audience in his most recent nature documentary, Ocean: “If we save the Sea, we save our world.”

Urging mankind to act on that message, he mentions that less than 3% of the ocean is currently protected—a fact based on analyses and ongoing reporting by Marine Conservation Institute and our partners.

The ocean provides a wealth of benefits to humanity. It feeds us, supplying 17% of the world’s protein¹ and regulates our climate, capturing one third of total carbon emissions² and absorbing over 90% of the excess heat generated over the past 50 years³. Not to mention, the millions of other species that rely upon the ocean and the intrinsic value it holds by simply existing. Yet, we put immense pressure on these important functions with destructive practices like industrial fishing and deep-sea mining, pushing marine ecosystems to their tipping points.  

Still, Attenborough finds hope in the amazing regenerative capabilities of the ocean, especially when it is well protected. In his new film, he touts the benefits of marine protected areas (MPAs), areas of the ocean that restrict destructive human activities, protecting marine biodiversity and delivering benefits to coastal communities. Two of the areas he highlights—the Northern Channel Islands MPAs off the coast of California and the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument near the Hawaiian Islands — demonstrate that these benefits are remarkable when areas are fully or highly protected. 

At Marine Conservation Institute, we recognize both of these areas as “Blue Parks,” or MPAs that are upholding the highest science-based standards of marine protection and delivering critical benefits to biodiversity. As Attenborough mentions in the film, highly protected MPAs like those around the Northern Channel Islands show the overfished populations bouncing back in as little as 5 years after implementation!⁴ 

Alongside the recognition of these success stories, Attenborough advocates for the expansion of the global MPA network, pointing out that currently less than 3% of the world’s ocean is protected from such destructive practices. This is a far shot from the 30x30 goal set by 126 countries around the world under Global Biodiversity Target 3 to protect 30% of the ocean by the year 2030.  

The World Database for Protected Areas (WDPA), the official repository of protected area data and primary data source for the headline indicator of GBF Target 3, reports marine protected coverage as a little over 8% as of May 2025.

So where did he get this 3% figure, and why is it an important distinction?

WDPA data is self-reported by countries and includes all MPAs from the time of legal designation, regardless of the implementation or strength of their protections; therefore, included in this 8% are MPAs that allow destructive, industrial-scale activities, such as bottom trawling, or that only exist on paper—areas sometimes referred to as “paper parks.” These areas are unlikely to achieve any conservation outcomes, creating a disconnect between the actual goal and our accounting of progress toward it. Recognizing this disconnect, in 2021, an international group of scientists and practitioners collaborated to create and publish The MPA Guide, a science-based framework that evaluates an MPA’s stage of establishment and level of protection, linking them to its expected outcomes.  

Since 2012, the Marine Protection Atlas (MPAtlas) operated by Marine Conservation Institute has endeavored to create a clearer picture of actual protections afforded on the water by MPAs. Since its publication, the Marine Protection Atlas has worked to apply The MPA Guide to MPAs around the world and build up a global repository of MPA Guide assessments.