Australian conservationists and researchers are celebrating the agreement of an international treaty they say will help protect the world’s oceans.
Key points:
- More than 100 countries have agreed on the High Seas Treaty, aiming to bring 30 per cent of the world’s land and sea under protection by 2030
- The Australian Marine Conservation Society says the agreement is a “huge leap forward”
- A humpback whale researcher says it will improve the protection and conservation of the environment
The legally binding pact to ensure the sustainable use of the ocean and conserve marine biodiversity, led by the United Nations and debated for 15 years, was agreed on in New York on Saturday.
Australian Marine Conservation Society chief executive Darren Kindleysides said it was a “historic” moment for ocean protection.
“The high seas are those areas of ocean which are outside national jurisdiction, so you go 200 nautical miles away from a coast and you’re suddenly in the high seas,” he said.
“About half of the surface area of our planet is high seas.
“So it’s a pretty big chunk of the globe but remarkably only about 1 per cent of that area has to-date been protected.
“This is a huge leap forward.”
Mr Kindleysides said the protection of the high seas had flow-on effects for Australia.
“Things that happen on those parts of the ocean can and do impact upon Australia’s ocean and Australia’s coasts,” he said.
“The better we protect the high seas … the better able we are to protect our own [seas].”
Mr Kindleysides said the nation had played a leading role in negotiations.
“Australia has been a global leader in terms of how we protect our oceans, going way back to when we first protected the Great Barrier Reef in the 1970s.”
Marine migration
Mr Kindleysides said the agreement was important to protect marine animals.
“Species in the ocean migrate over vast distances,” he said.
“Humpback whales, for example, that you see within the Great Barrier Reef, they migrate through large areas of the high seas.
“We need to protect those migratory species outside of the Great Barrier Reef and outside our own waters.”
Marine scientist with The Oceania Project Wally Franklin has been studying humpback whales for 30 years.
He described the agreement as “absolutely wonderful news”.
“That’s a really important step for long-term care, conservation and protection of our oceans,” Dr Franklin said.
“There’s no question that it will improve the protection and conservation of the environment.”
Dr Franklin said humpbacks migrated between eastern Australian waters where they breed and Antarctic waters where they feed.
“The humpbacks only spend from approximately May until November in our coastal waters,” he said.
“For the rest of the year, they actually are in those open oceans beyond our national boundaries until they get down to the feeding area along the Antarctic coastline.
“Any steps moving forward to ensure that these are recognised as marine protected areas is very important, not only for our humpback whales, but all the 80-odd species of whales and dolphins that live in those open oceans.”
Conservation is key
But Mr Kindleysides said more can be done to improve ocean conservation.
“There are many other things that we need to do,” he said.
“We need to do better to tackle the threats like climate change, plastic pollution, the threats that offshore mining, for example, pose to our ocean.
“This is a really positive move but there is more that can be done.”