One of the most significant trends in global oceans conservation is large-scale marine protected areas (MPAs); as of 2018, the 20 largest MPAs comprised 70% of the total area covered by MPAs globally. My research on the proposed Blue Halo in Bermuda was one of the first studies to empirically document their social aspects; it comprised one of five case studies in the Human Dimensions of Large MPAs project. Negotiations over the Blue Halo demonstrated how diverse actors, including government representatives, conservation NGOs, scientists, funders, fishermen, and industry representatives used strategies to assert their territorial interests in this offshore ocean space. I also examined a parallel proposal to conserve the Sargasso Sea through a high seas large MPA. This research showed how these two overlapping conservation proposals interacted to produce unanticipated (and, for the conservationists who proposed them, undesired) territorial outcomes in the Atlantic Ocean.
