Bermudian environmentalists are encouraged by the creation of a massive marine preserve on the other side of the world.Australia last week announced the creation of an enormous marine preserve in the Coral Sea, spanning around 500,000 square kilometres, roughly the size of Spain.Chris Flook, Bermuda Director of the Global Ocean Legacy, said the news demonstrates the global importance of preserving the oceans with projects like the Bermuda Blue Halo, which aims to turn much of the Islands economic exclusive zone into a nature reserve.“I think this shows the global significance of what we are trying to do here in Bermuda,” Mr Flook said. “It shows that countries, the public and the world at large are getting it, that healthy oceans mean a healthy planet.“Bermuda is at the forefront of this. We are going into public consultation in September, and the people of Bermuda will have the opportunity to do something really special.“For such a small country, we can do something significant, create one of the largest marine preserves in the world, and that can lead to the Sargasso Sea project, which would be the first high seas marine preserve in the world.”While the Blue Halo reserve would be smaller than the Coral Sea reserve, Mr Flook said it could still potentially be one of the largest in the world.“Bermuda’s total EEZ is about 325,303 square kilometres,” he said. “The Bermuda Blue Halo could be tiny or large depending on the results from the public consultation, but 94 percent ends up being about 305,785 square kilometres.“The Bermuda Government will ultimately decide the size of the reserve, but hopefully will go for the maximum designation.“Bermuda’s territorial waters are smaller in size compared to Australia’s, but we could protect a much larger percentage of our water than they have.”