The New England Aquarium's President and CEO Nigella Hillgarth published an opinion piece in Saturday's Boston Globe about bi-partisan efforts to protect huge swaths of ocean habitat. These exciting designations bring to mind the Aquarium's efforts to protect pristine reefs in Kiribati's Phoenix Islands.

Read the full article in The Boston Globe here. Here's an excerpt:

President Obama’s recent designation of marine protection to vast, new areas of the central Pacific Ocean builds directly off of prior national monument designations of his predecessor, George W. Bush. This rare, bipartisan support for such conservation policies in acrimonious political times reflects the building momentum to protect large expanses of ocean across the globe. Surprisingly, the recent decade-long burst of designating large marine-protected areas around the world has some of its principal roots in Boston.

US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE VIA AP/FILE

Learn more about the Aquarium's conservation efforts in the Phoenix Islands:

• Here's a little background about the Phoenix Island Protected Area (PIPA)
• Read about the latest scientific expedition to the region on the blogs
• Learn why scientists are studying whaling logs from this region from the 1800's 
• Get to know different tuna species and various fishing practices in the Phoenix Islands
• Here's a link to the Phoenix Islands' website
• Fun Fact: The Phoenix Islands Protected Area is a UNESCO World Heritage site