Has the U.S. really conserved a third of its waters? Here’s the math.

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1. Almost everyone loves [the ocean.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/11/ocean-heat-climate-change/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2) But not everyone agrees on what it means to protect it.

   The United States is conserving approximately one-third of the country’s ocean areas, according to an early analysis released Friday by the Biden administration — suggesting the president is meeting a key [environmental goal](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/22/report-details-how-biden-can-protect-30-percent-us-lands-waters-by-2030-without-congress/?itid=lk_inline_manual_3) laid out at the beginning of his term.

   But others say that’s not the case.

   Some of those areas still allow for[ commercial fishing,](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/15/chevron-herring-fishermen-supreme-court/?itid=lk_inline_manual_6) advocates say, and fall short of protections needed to save [marine ecosystems](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/03/05/un-ocean-treaty-high-seas/?itid=lk_inline_manual_6) facing dire threats.

   “It’s padding the numbers,” said Brad Sewell, oceans director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

   The disagreement comes as the White House on Friday [outlined how much progress](https://www.conservation.gov/) the country has made in achieving President Biden’s[ ambitious goal](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/executive-order-on-tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad/) of conserving at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

   The White House’s Council on Environmental Quality said its preliminary count — outlined in a newly released atlas — shows that approximately “one-third of U.S. marine areas are currently conserved.”

   “We are making bold progress to conserve our ocean,” Rick Spinrad, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in a statement.

   Yet precisely what areas on the map should count as protected has been a [subject of considerable debate](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/05/06/biden-conservation-30×30/?itid=lk_inline_manual_13).

   The White House said a majority of that ocean expanse — 26 percent of U.S. waters — is officially designated as “marine protected areas,” where human activity is typically restricted to protect wildlife.

   But that one-third tally also includes parts of the ocean where only a type of fishing called [bottom trawling ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/food-impact-climate-water-wildlife/?itid=lk_inline_manual_16)is banned to protect coral and other bottom-dwelling creatures from nets that scrape the seafloor. Other types of commercial fishing in those areas, which include swaths of ocean off New England and the Mid-Atlantic, are still allowed.

   Read more here: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/04/19/protected-oceans-united-states-fishing/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/04/19/protected-oceans-united-states-fishing/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)