Protect the High Seas before it is too late, Governments urged.
Urgent measures are needed to protect the vast hidden treasures of the deep seas from over-exploitation, according to a new report by WWF, the conservation organization, and IUCN, the World Conservation Union. The report, The Status of Natural Resources on the High Seas, says that the deep sea, and the creatures that live within it, are threatened by unregulated fishing and oil exploration, CO2 dumping, biotechnology, and the exploitation of gas hydrates and hydrothermal vent heat. Particularly threatened are deep-sea corals in the Atlantic which have been damaged by industrialized fishing trawlers which drag heavy chains over reefs, the orange roughy fish in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, whales, dolphins and porpoises.The report calls for international agreements to be put in place to regulate the management, protection and exploitation of high seas beyond the 200 nautical-mile limit of the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of coastal states. .
Read full text of WWF / IUCN press release!
Download the WWF / IUCN Report "The Status of Natural Resources on the High-Seas" (1,8 MB PDF file)
Quite large areas of the North East Atlantic ocean (OSPAR Maritime Area) are high seas outside national jurisdiction. Within them exists marine life that is rich in diversity as well as scientific and geologically significant deep-sea coral reefs, seamounts, deep-sea trenches, hydrothermal vents, abyssal plains and deep sea fish stocks. Useful links related to the issue of High Seas Marine Protected Areas (HSMPA):
WWF project on Promoting a Network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the North-East Atlantic
United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS)