Who Actually Owns the Ocean?

High seas conservation matters because nearly half of the planet lies beyond any one country’s control. In this episode of How to Protect the Ocean, we ask a deceptively simple question: who actually owns the ocean?

Andrew breaks down what the high seas are, why international waters have historically been treated like a free-for-all, and why that approach no longer works in a world of industrial fishing, deep-sea mining interests, global shipping, and climate change.

This episode explains why the high seas matter to tuna, sharks, whales, sea turtles, global food systems, and climate stability, and why the High Seas Treaty could become one of the most important ocean protection tools of our time.