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Visa requirements

Permission to enter the British Indian Ocean Territory is required in advance and with a fee from The Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory who is the head of government in the United Kingdom 's overseas territory of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
You will require a permit in advance if you intend to visit any of the outer islands of the Territory. Access to Diego Garcia is only permitted to those with connections to the military facility. The BIOT Administration in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London is responsible for the issuing of permits. Apply to:
The Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory
Overseas Territories Department, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AH, Telephone:020 7008 2890 Fax:020 7008 1589
Entry requirements

See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/biot-visit-permit-request-form-yachts
:
BIOT visit permit request form - yachts

Transit requirements (departing one port, entering another)

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Search and rescue

Search and rescue facilities are limited.
If you have an emergency that you consider life threatening, you should declare it as a
maritime emergency in accordance with International Maritime Regulations. In such
a situation, BIOT authorities in Diego Garcia can be contacted on 2.182MHz HF SSB
or VHF if within range. All reasonable assistance will be considered.
Emergency and health services

There are no medical facilities in the territory.
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Professor Shepphard has been conservation or science adviser to the Commissioner for a few years now and matters about yachts have arisen several times. He advises:

In some years there have been some problems, caused by a certain belligerency (which might not help with BIOT relations perhaps!) by some boats that want to anchor where they chose. Let me explain why it does matter where boats go.

The lagoon there is particularly sensitive, particularly because it receives so little impact of the usual sort - sewage, land alterations, overfishing and so on. Ironically perhaps, if it was degraded like so many other areas, maybe nobody would care! We can see the evidence of some anchoring and damage it has caused - not much in the world scheme but significant in some areas. Some 500 year old coral colonies included, by anchor chains and rope to make a sort of mooring, for example. The anchorage areas we drew up were (a) in areas where most boats like to go anyway and which already had damage and (b) were to a large degree sand, which most preferred to coral (we asked about 30).

One thing I would like to see but expect I would be whistling, is for boats to discharge their holding tanks well out to sea. We know there have been several algae blooms in the Salomon Boddam anchorage, for example. In Chagos this can and does affect the ecosystem. So, the number of boats and the area where they can go is restricted to where we think the impact would be less. So far as I know, there have been none turned away for lack of room since this was implemented - or is this incorrect? In fact one or two anchorage boundaries were adjusted recently following feedback from a yacht.

Moorings look like they wont be put in. People are worried about liability should one break etc, regardless of users signing an 'at my own risk ' type of thing. Professional installation and maintenance, which would be necessary, is very costly - it has been looked in to.

One issue which can be a worry is those few who collect and eat quite a lot of some of the rare species. It is a long time since one yacht crew printed and article in a French magazine of how to cook coconut crabs in Chagos! but we know many are still taken, for example. And some yacht owners report back some pretty heavy-duty infringements of taking illegal organisms after they leave Chagos, coconut crabs being just one of the targets. Not all visitors show any respect for what we are trying to achieve Im afraid. This is bound to both set back the natural conservation effort we are trying to achieve and of course upsets the authorities!

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Cruising permits and restrictions

See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/biot-laws-and-guidance-for-visitors for:
* BIOT laws and Guidance for yachts [Word, 99.8 Kb]


About the Chagos Conservation Trust

Chagos Conservation Trust (CCT) is a charity entirely dedicated to the conservation of the Chagos archipelago.

CCT was at the forefront of the campaign to create the marine reserve and has been working with government and other organisations to ensure that:

the reserve is well-managed, and
science and conservation remain top priorities.

Find out more about CCT on our new website: www.chagos-trust.org.

2012 Science Expedition

CCT is excited to announce that between 13th February and 7th March a scientific research expedition will take place in the Chagos archipelago.

It is the first full scientific expedition since the marine reserve was established and is supported by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, CCT, and numerous other institutions.

The main purpose of the expedition is to continue the programme of monitoring the condition of the Chagos reefs and to carry out further research to aid in the management of the marine reserve.

We believe the expedition’s initiatives will assist the government in understanding and managing the world’s largest fully no-take MPA, maintaining this extraordinarily rich area of marine and terrestrial biodiversity.

A staggering 95% of the marine reserve is yet to be explored. The 2012 expedition will help to continue expanding our knowledge of this amazing part of the world.

You can read blog updates from the scientists participating in the expedition on our new website here: www.chagos-trust.org/projects/current/2012-expedition.

Best wishes, and many thanks again for your support.

Simon E Hughes
Secretary
Chagos Conservation Trust