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How can the compatibility of human economic growth and marine life be achieved? One way is through activities like diving, snorkeling, and similar tourism, which are located where marine life thrives. Marine excursions require sites that are as pristine as possible so guest experiences are immersive and authentic — humans and deep sea life seem as one during these activities. So why not zero in on these same areas for additional marine protection? It’s an idea that’s gaining interest, and these types of target areas have been recently titled “Blue Spots.”
It makes sense, right? Wildlife tourism already discourages activities like fishing or mining that damage or degrade ecosystems. A consortium of researchers, including scientists from the Scripps Oceanographic Institute collaborated on a spacial framework that was designed to accelerate marine conservation. It did so by concentrating efforts in areas where existing non-extractive economies—especially diving and wildlife tourism—already support biodiversity protection. Their results show that deliverable, measurable ecological and economic gains can be accrued more rapidly in Blue Spots than in areas where conventional conservation strategies have been tested.
Expanding Blue Spots may not be as easy as it seems at first, though. Although more than 8% of the global ocean is designated as a marine protected area (MPA), only about 3% is fully protected from extractive actions.
The Importance of Biodiversity Blue Spots
The Earth’s biodiversity is threatened today as it hasn’t been since the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. Humans have developed the wild, created a civilization of built structures, polluted by burning fossil fuels and dumping chemicals, and spread disease — all of which have damaged or destroyed the interconnected ecosystems on our planet.
Conservation planning has traditionally focused on ecological criteria—such as species distributions, habitat representation, and connectivity—to identify “biodiversity hotspots.” These biodiversity hotspots now represent only 2.5% of Earth’s land surface — and they are the most essential parts of the world. That’s because they are habitat for more than half of the world’s plant species as “endemics” — those are species that are now found only in these areas and nowhere else in the world. These endemics represent nearly 43% of bird, mammal, reptile and amphibian species.
Just 36 areas around the world meet the standard for hotspots. According to Conservation International, to qualify as a biodiversity hotspot, a region must meet two strict criteria:
It must have at least 1,500 vascular plants as endemics — a high percentage of plant life that don’t exist anywhere else on the planet.
It must have 30% or less of its original natural vegetation. In other words, it must be threatened.
A hotspot, in other words, is irreplaceable.
The Blue Spots framework identifies coastal and marine areas where conditions already favor effective conservation, including:
established ecotourism operations, such as diving centers;
access and infrastructure that support non-extractive livelihoods;
evidence of local governance and community inclusion; and,
relatively low industrial fishing pressure.
For example, using national-scale spatial modeling across Mexico’s 392,000 square-kilometer (151,000 square mile) territorial sea, researchers identified 300 Blue Spots and 30 especially high-priority Blue Spots, defined as the top 10% most feasible and impactful for near-term protection. The 300 areas represent only 9% of Mexico’s territorial waters but contain 23% of critical marine and coastal habitats, underscoring their ecological significance.
A bio-economic model developed by the research team shows that protecting the 30 highest-priority Blue Spots could increase diving tourism revenues by more than 70% over a decade, while avoiding losses expected under business-as-usual degradation. When expanded to all Blue Spots, national diving tourism revenue could nearly double.
These previous and rare areas have become a target for innovative green investors. The allure is that Blue Spots are located near communities whose revenues from ecotourism already circulate among local investors and workers. This reduces the need for compensatory mechanisms often required when fully protected areas displace extractive users.
Transitioning Local Communities into Alignment with Blue Spots
Successful ecotourism depends on access, infrastructure, community organization, and proximity to attractive marine ecosystem conditions not universally present and often absent in the most ecologically prioritized areas, according to the Scripps scientists. Fully protected areas remain the most effective tool for restoring marine biodiversity, yet progress toward global targets like protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030 remains elusive. Even though the researchers identified many coastal communities that are already aligned with conservation goals, many efforts have stalled due to social and economic barriers faced by coastal communities.
Think about coral reefs. They could be producing a lot more food, outlines Warren Cornwall in Anthropocene, but these reefs need careful management. They are battered by underwater heat waves, have little oversight, and are spaces where fishing provides day-to-day sustenance to local communities. Yet overfished reefs globally have a 32% fish deficit of possible fish habitat — that is, if maximum fishing limits were enacted.
In fact, if such Reef fisheries were allowed to recover, the additional fish that would flourish would translate into what researchers last month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences calculated would be a “staggering 9,000 extra meals for every square kilometer of coral reef.” The scientists note that fishing reductions would have to be paired with alternative food production such as farming. In the cases of small islands with little available land, it could require finding other seafood or importing food from abroad in the interim.
Increasing people’s motivation is tightly coupled with increasing their capacity for change. But, to be most effective, protection efforts need to align with social and economic readiness — access to desired resources. Many zero-carbon policies, technologies, business models, products, and services aren’t able to be easily integrated into everyday life.
Blue Spots are different. They integrate socioeconomic feasibility directly into conservation design because the framework is adaptable and can be aligned with local governance systems and context-specific data. The Scripps researchers argue that these Blue Spots don’t require communities to transition away from traditional livelihoods; instead, they celebrate local economic culture, economies, and oversight.
Large scale conservation targets remain critical, but there is also value in protecting specific sites that already generate ecological and socioeconomic benefits, the Scripps researchers explain. Identifying areas where conservation and local economies already benefit one another can more fully expand protected marine areas more efficiently and equitably.
Of course, no single blue spot will replicate modeled benefits in isolation, but the Blue Spot framework’s strength lies in revealing broader patterns and identifying areas where conservation is most likely to succeed.
Resources
“Biodiversity Hotspots.” Conservation International. 2026.
“Blue Spots: A novel framework to leverage non-extractive economies for ocean conservation.” Eduardo León-Solórzan, et al. Conservation Letters. November 6, 2025.
“Cornerstones of marine protection might actually be ‘Blue Spots.’” Robert Monroe. Scripps Oceanographic Institute. November 25, 2025.
“Potential yield and food provisioning gains from rebuilding the world’s coral reef fish stocks.” Zamborain-Mason, et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. December 16, 2025.
“The perverse dilemma of reef recovery: Less fish now, more food later.” Warren Cornwall. Anthropocene. January 7, 2026.
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