Marine protected areas shield ocean animals from fishing, habitat destruction, and disturbance. Well-designed MPAs have proven welfare and conservation benefits at scale.
Marine protected areas benefit animal welfare through multiple pathways: eliminating the injury and death from fishing gear; reducing noise pollution from industrial shipping and seismic surveys that causes disorientation and injury in cetaceans; allowing population recovery that improves overall herd health; and creating refugia where natural behavior can be expressed without constant human disturbance. Strongly protected no-take zones consistently outperform partially protected areas in both biodiversity and welfare metrics. The 30x30 commitment, if implemented effectively, would represent the largest single improvement in ocean animal welfare ever achieved.