A new project seeks to turn almost 400,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean into a marine sanctuary around Chile’s Easter Island. Spearheaded by the Pew Environmental Group, the proposal, aims to create the world’s largest protected marine area by 2013.

“These are areas where biodiversity is so rich that it has become a breeding ground. These centers generate sea life, and that feeds the other sectors with the ocean’s currents, hence the importance of protecting them,” said Ernesto Escobar, Pew representative in Chile.

The Easter Island Development Committee (Codeipa) has already given its approval to the project, following measures reviewed by government earlier this year to help preserve the island’s natural resources. The next step will be approval from the island’s indigenous Rapa Nui community. Escobar acknowledged the importance of the Rapa Nui community’s involvement in the project. “The idea is that the Rapa Nui community define the characteristics that they want within the reserve, given their customs and links to the sea.”

PEW intends to protect and regulate the designated area through satellite surveillance. The satellites would monitor prohibited activities, including excessive fishing.” We are designing a sort of Interpol for the sea,” added Escobar. The sanctuary would be part of the Global Ocean Legacy, an endeavour to create 15 protected marine areas by 2022. Three of the proposed reserves have already been opened in Hawaii, the Mariana Islands and the Chagos archipelago

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