- A law establishing the Azores Marine Protected Areas Network was approved in October 2024 and took effect recently, on Jan. 1 this year.
- The network now safeguards 30% of Azorean waters, 287,000 square kilometers of seascape sheltering a rich array of marine life, and makes up the largest MPA network in the North Atlantic Ocean.
- Not two weeks later, on Jan. 15, the Azores Parliament voted on a measure that upholds a core provision of the MPA network, after it came under fire in recent months: No fishing inside the fully protected areas, which constitute half the vast network.
- Conservationists expressed satisfaction, broadly, with the agreement, but fishers’ groups expressed disappointment.
SÃO MATEUS, Portugal — Winter forced Emanuel Alves to remove his boat from the water at the port of São Mateus in the Azores, the Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean. The 64-year-old fisher expressed concern about the giant network of marine protected areas that permeates the archipelago. “Where are we going to fish now?” he asked.
The law establishing the Azores Marine Protected Areas Network was approved in October 2024 and took effect just recently, on Jan. 1 this year. The network now safeguards 30% of Azorean waters, 287,000 square kilometers (110,800 square miles) of seascape sheltering a rich array of marine life. Not two weeks later, on Jan. 15, the Azores Parliament voted to uphold a core provision of the MPA network, after it came under fire in recent months: No fishing inside the fully protected areas, which constitute half the vast network.
The vote effectively killed an earlier move to open these areas to pole-and-line tuna fishing that would have been “catastrophic and damaging to the region,” according to Luís Bernardo Brito e Abreu, coordinator of Blue Azores, a Portugal-based partnership between the Azores regional government, the U.S.-based nonprofit Waitt Institute and the Portugal-based Oceano Azul Foundation that began advocating for the establishment of the MPA network in 2019. “[The] criterion for a total protection area is indeed total protection; there can be no extractive activity,” Brito e Abreu told Mongabay.
However, the Azores Fisheries Federation told Mongabay that “the sector is disappointed” with the political agreement that preceded the vote and the maintenance of the no-fishing zones.
The new Azores Marine Protected Areas Network is home to diverse marine species, including at least 19 cetacean species, at least 19 shark species, turtles and seabirds. The Azorean seabed is characterized by deep-water corals, hydrothermal vent ecosystems and numerous seamounts, such as the Princesa Alice, D. João de Castro, and Condor banks.
At more than three times the land area of Portugal, it’s the largest MPA network in the North Atlantic Ocean and drew accolades from conservationists when it was established. It brought the percentage of Portuguese waters under protection from 4.5% up to 19.1%, according to the government; a significant step toward Portugal’s commitment under the Kunming-Montreal Agreement to protect 30% of its sea by 2030.
The network consists of 63 individual MPAs, divided evenly between two levels of protection. Areas of high vulnerability and ecological importance are “fully” protected and permit no extractive activities. Less sensitive areas needing habitat and species management are “highly” protected and allow minimally destructive extractive activities, such as fishing with low-impact gear.
In March 2025, a proposal by the Azorean Socialist Party (PS) to amend the new law establishing the MPA network came to light. It sought to allow tuna fishing in the fully protected areas using pole-and-line gear, a traditional method considered relatively sustainable and with low impact on the ecosystem.
This suggestion was supported by the tuna canning industry, but it immediately sparked controversy among politicians, researchers and civil society. The pressure forced a backroom deal between the PS and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) now governing the Azores, which does not have an absolute majority.
Another text was then drafted for voting that authorized pole-and-line tuna fishing only in the highly protected MPAs in the network and maintained the principle of no fishing of any kind in the fully protected MPAs. It was this new proposal that was approved by a large multiparty majority in the Azores Parliament on Jan. 15. Votes in favor came from the PSD, PS and four other parties. Two other parties voted against, along with one PS representative.
In addition to expressing support for the outcome of maintaining the integrity of the fully protected areas, Brito e Abreu of Blue Azores said this behind-the-scenes agreement “was also positive because it created political stability on the issue, which will be very important for the coming years when regulations [governing the MPA network] will have to continue to be approved.”
On the other hand, he said the agreement was not entirely satisfactory because, whereas originally special authorization was required for pole-and-line tuna fishing in the highly protected areas, the amendment approved in January permits it across the board without any further authorization. And the concept of MPAs is that “no activities are automatically permitted: They are either prohibited or restricted,” Brito e Abreu said. Fishing all other species will continue to be restricted in high protection zones, however.
Brito e Abreu said the original PS proposal could have risked losing funding for fishing communities meant to mitigate potential economic impacts from implementing the MPAs. To compensate Azorean fishers, the Portuguese government allocated 10 million euros (about $11.8 million) from the Environmental Fund to be distributed over the next three years.
That amount “falls far short,” according to the Azores Fisheries Federation (FPA), a group of fishers’ associations, especially when compared with what the sector brings in: 42 million euros (about $49.5 million) per year. Jorge Gonçalves, president of the FPA, told Mongabay the recent agreement “has to do with politics and not with the defense of resources.” This is because “tuna is a migratory species that only passes through the Azores for three months a year,” in the summer, he added.
The Portuguese environmental association ZERO called the Azores Parliament’s Jan. 15 decision to maintain the Azores Marine Park “historic” on its website.
Had the original proposal to allow fishing in the fully protected zones moved forward, “it would set a very dangerous precedent,” ZERO researcher Joana Soares told Mongabay.
She said the next challenge for the Azores MPA Network will be monitoring and enforcement. “In Portugal, everything related to enforcement has some shortcomings,” she said.
Brito e Abreu said the Portuguese government’s recent announcements of increased investment in defense may contribute to monitoring and enforcement of various maritime activities, possibly via satellite, drone or radar surveillance solutions.
Banner image: Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus); the species is one of 19 cetacean species that spend time in the Azores. Image courtesy of Ellen Cuylaerts/Ocean Image Bank.
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