Why do we need to protect the high seas?

The high seas – the vast open ocean and deep seabed areas found beyond any national jurisdiction – cover about half of the Earth’s surface and 64 percent of the global ocean area. The high seas are the international waters that are owned by everyone and no-one. They are part of the global commons and governed collectively by all nations. Once thought to be barren and devoid of life, it is now known that the high seas are one of the largest reservoirs of biodiversity on Earth. The high seas are home to an array of unique and rare species, including deep-dwelling fishes and invertebrates that long-lived, slow-motion lives in eternal darkness. The high seas also provide important habitats for many migratory species, such as whales, sea turtles, tunas, sharks, seabirds, that travel the ocean basin in search of food and mates.

          Many discoveries are being made on the high seas. There are currently five World Heritage in the high seas discovered, which are: The Lost City of Hydrothermal Vent, The Costa Rica Thermal Dome, The White Shark Café, The Sargasso Sea, and The Atlantis Bank. However, scientists estimated that just 5 percent of the Earth’s ocean has been explored. Only 0.0001% of the deep seafloor has so far been studied and it is estimated that millions of species living there are yet to be discovered, as well as having potentially life-saving medicines originated from high seas resources. Besides, the high seas provide critical ecosystem services for our planet – from climate regulation to fisheries.

          The high seas play an especially significant role in climate control. Surface waters absorb the heat in sunlight striking the planet’s surface, storing, and transporting around the planet in both surface waters and to the deep sea via wind and water currents, thereby moderating the climate of both terrestrial and marine areas. Oceans also absorb vast quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, moderating the rate of global warming but also contributing to ocean acidification. Certain plankton animals, especially Pteropods, Foraminifers, and Coccolithophores, moderate the rate of acidification by taking up some of the carbon to make their calcium carbonate shells. After death, the shells of these little animals sink to become part of the sediment covering much of the seafloor and sequestering the carbon they contain for a very long time.

As for fisheries, current estimates of the economic value of carbon storage by the high seas range from US$74 billion to US$222 billion per year while high seas fisheries rise to US$16 billion annually in gross catch. High seas have been a pathway of the world’s fleet of container ships, tankers, cruise ships, freighters, and others to transport mostly manufactured goods, food, oil, and other necessities, as well as people across the thousands of miles of ocean that separate the continental landmasses. This in turn provides job opportunities and revenue associated with the construction, port operations, crew, cargo, and tourist of every ship sailing the high seas, increasing the overall socio-economic values.

However, negative impacts resulting from human activities are inevitable. The high seas lack consistent and effective oversight. A patchwork of rules and regulations provides little to protect marine life from commercial activities. Why has so little (only 1.2%) of high seas area has been protected? Firstly, the high seas are not the responsibility of any State but belong to all of us. And whilst it is pretty straightforward to protect areas within national waters, for most of the high seas there are no clear rules – which has meant that for too long protecting high seas marine life has been placed on the “too difficult pile.” Since they are beyond national jurisdiction, responsibility for coordinating management turns into a complex network of organizations created through international treaties between States.

 The United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS), an international treaty that many calls ‘the Constitution of the Ocean’ was negotiated through the 1990s to determine which marine areas States have jurisdiction over, and which are areas of international responsibility. Since then, several agreements have been made to regulate specific activities, like seabed mining and fishing for highly migratory and straddling fish stocks. Under these treaties, particularly for fishing, a plethora of organizations have been set up to manage several types of fishing or specific species on the high seas. The costs and logistics of organizing official deliberations with so many participants place limits on the issues considered, as well as the rate of decision-making and subsequent implementation of decisions. There are different values, interests, and objectives of the member States, which may add further complications. With a focus on organizing States around extracting life from the Ocean, inadequate attention has been focused on organizing the protection of high seas marine life.

Currently, there is no legal mechanism that establishes fully protected marine areas in most parts of the high seas, no mechanism to undertake environmental impact assessments, and no agreement for access and benefit-sharing of marine genetic resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction. Increasing impacts from human activity continue to negatively affect biodiversity on the high seas. For example, fish stocks are in trouble because dwindling stocks nearer to shore mean that boats are going further and deeper looking for fish. Destructive fishing practices, such as bottom trawling, and illegal fishing are threatening high seas marine life. New and emerging unregulated activities are adding another layer of concern. Combine these threats with the impacts of climate change; we have a very unhealthy cocktail that is poisoning our blue planet.

For over a decade, negotiators at the United Nations have been discussing what best to do to protect marine life on the high seas. A breakthrough was reached in early 2015, followed by a UN Resolution which established a two-year official process for the development of a new treaty under the Law of the Sea Convention to protect life in the global Ocean. Following two years of negotiations, finally, on the 24th December 2017, the UN General Assembly made the historic decision to formally start negotiations for a new UN landmark treaty to protect the high seas, to be concluded by 2020. Negotiations are still underway.

This agreement will address area-based management tools, including a possible framework for the establishment of marine protected areas and reserves in these areas, environmental impact assessments, the access to and fair sharing of marine genetic resources, as well as capacity building and the transfer of marine technology. It should also incorporate modern environmental governance-principles such as requirements for transparency and implementing the precautionary approach. As an individual, there are things we can do in our daily life to protect the high seas; consuming a sustainably caught or produced seafood, minimizing personal carbon footprint, as well as reduce, reuse, and recycle to prevent pollution from reaching our oceans.