ENVIRONMENT
Protect Our Seas
News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
Conservation on the High Seas
A High Seas Treaty has been agreed in principle by the United Nations . The Treaty aims to help convert 30 % of international waters into protected areas by 2030 .
The High Seas are international waters where all nations have a right to send their shipping , to fish and carry out research . The area is home to an almost unimaginable
PHOTO : SIMON ROGERSON biomass of sea creatures , but only 1.2 per cent of the waters are protected .
In the latest assessment of global marine species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature , nearly 10 % of species were found to be at risk because of factors such as climate change , overfishing and shipping traffic .
The High Seas Treaty , which was agreed in New York in March after a decade of talks , establishes protected areas in these remote international zones . It is hoped they will help achieve the global goal of protecting 30 % of the world ’ s oceans , made at the UN biodiversity conference last year .
The treaty ’ s two other key points are to foster arrangements for sharing marine genetic resources , and to require environmental impact assessments for deep sea activities such as mining .
‘ Genetic resources ’ refers to biological material from plants and animals in the ocean , which can be adapted into pharmaceuticals and food . The idea is that nations share equally any mineral discoveries in the deep sea between national boundaries . However , there are concerns that some ocean resources are hard to price , and so difficult to share .
Countries will meet again to formally adopt the agreement , which will only come into force once 60 nations have signed up and legally passed the legislation in their own parliaments .
Only then will signatory countries be able to start looking at the practicalities of implementing the measures .
PHOTO : SEA SHEPHERD
Killing for krill
Conservation activists Sea Shepherd Global has filmed two super-trawlers with nets deployed , ploughing through a ‘ mega pod ’ of more than 100 fin whales in Antarctica .
The whales were feeding on a huge mass of krill , which is also the target of a new fishery , with 12-14 industrial trawlers targeting not whales directly , but instead the keystone species on which they survive . “ The two super-trawlers made no effort to change course ,” said Captain Peter
42