A Marine Protected Area (MPA) is an area of ocean especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biodiversity, and natural and associated cultural resources, which are managed through legal or other effective means.

MPAs include marine parks, nature reserves and locally managed marine areas that protect reefs, seagrass beds, shipwrecks, archaeological sites, tidal lagoons, mudflats, saltmarshes, mangroves, rock platforms, underwater areas on the coast and the seabed in deep water, as well as open ocean (the water column).

In 1988, The World Conservation Union (IUCN) General Assembly called upon national governments, international agencies and the non-governmental community to "Provide for the protection, restoration, wise use, understanding and enjoyment of the marine heritage of the world through the creation of a global, representative system of marine protected areas and through management in accordance with the principles of the World Conservation Strategy of human activities that use or affect the marine environment".