The British government has announced it will create a gigantic marine reserve in the British Indian Ocean Territory. But the declaration has angered the former inhabitants of the islands, who have fought a long court battle with the government for their right to return.

A new Marine Protected Area (MPA) will cover approximately 650,000 square kilometres around the 55 islands that make up the Chagos chain and will include a no-take reserve where all commercial fishing is banned.

“The MPA will cover some quarter of a million square miles and its establishment will double the global coverage of the world’s oceans under protection,” said the UK Foreign Secretary, David Milliband (press release). “Its creation is a major step forward for protecting the oceans, not just around BIOT itself, but also throughout the world.”

Jay Nelson, director of the Global Ocean Legacy group, called the move “a historic victory for global ocean conservation” (press release).

However, the Chagos islanders are less pleased. They were evicted from the islands in 1960s and 70s and the largest of their former-homes was leased to the US for use as a military base. A ban on commercial fishing, they fear, could make it impossible for them to return home if they succeed in a forthcoming European court appeal (the latest in a long running legal fight).

The Mauritian government, which has claims on the territory, is also furious. “Perfidious Albion is dishonest,” its Foreign Minister Arvind Boolell told AFP. “I am very angry.”

Milliband insists that “the creation of the MPA will not change the UK’s commitment to cede the Territory to Mauritius when it is no longer needed for defence purposes and it is, of course, without prejudice to the outcome of the current, pending proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights”.

Image: Wikipedia