Will the High Seas Treaty Actually Change Anything?

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The hardest part of the High Seas
Treaty was never reaching the

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agreement, although that was difficult.

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It's what happens after
the headlines disappear.

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This is the How to Protect the Ocean
podcast, your weekday ocean news update.

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the ocean every single weekday, Monday

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to Friday, hit that follow button right
now so you don't miss tomorrow's episode.

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Today, we're asking the
question many people in ocean

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conservation are quietly thinking.

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Will the High Seas Treaty
actually change anything?

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And to be honest, we're
not quietly thinking it.

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We are saying it out
loud, top of our lungs.

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Will this change anything?

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Will this massive thing that
requires numerous countries to agree

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on and be able to agree on every
little decision that's made, will

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they actually go ahead with it?

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Will it change anything?

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Because history shows
us something important.

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Big environmental announcements
do not automatically create

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big environmental incomes.

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The Paris Climate Accord was
a huge thing, historic even.

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But then major countries are
pulling out and you're like, "Oh,

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wow. Well, hold on a second."

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We have two countries, or one or two
countries who are like the biggest

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emitters, and they're not part of this.

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They keep pulling, like one keeps
pulling out and coming back in,

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pulling out and coming back in.

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It's really confusing, but it
makes it difficult to do any kind

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of conservation in the future.

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Now let's be honest, like the High
Seas Treaty was historic, is historic.

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And for the first time, the world
has a framework to better protect

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biodiversity beyond the national borders.

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That matters because the high seas
cover nearly half of the planet.

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And until now, there hasn't been
any comprehensive mechanism for

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establishing marine protected
areas across those waters.

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When the final gavel went down to say
that the high seas went off, it's on

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YouTube if you ever wanna watch it.

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The person who had the gavel was
in tears of happiness and just

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drained probably from all the
negotiations over the number of years.

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Some people did not see it
happen within their lifetime

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and a lot of us saw it.

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That's a huge historic
victory for the ocean.

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And so, making sure that we're able to
have these marine protected areas, that

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treaty changes it, at least structurally.

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It creates a legal pathway
for coordinated conservation.

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We haven't seen that before.

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Like we've had coordinated
conservation, especially for MPAs

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between two countries, maybe even three.

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But it hasn't happened a lot, and
within those national boundaries.

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But like this is a major, major
achievement to be able to do that

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from a legal structure to put MPAs
in, marine protected areas, especially

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considering how difficult international
negotiations can actually be.

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But treaties are all starting points.

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Like it may not be perfect.

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They're not the finishing lines.

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But you know, there's something
that we can really start and we

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can really sink our teeth into.

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There's also legitimate skepticism,
though, on how this is gonna work because

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conservation has a history of ambitious
targets without sufficient implementation.

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We're looking at 30 by 30, coming
up at the end of this decade - where

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countries are supposed to protect
30% of land, 30% of oceans and water

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resources in their country by 2030.

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Well, it's kinda coming to a point
where funding agencies and countries

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are really focused on that 30% number.

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But I was just-- had a conversation
with a buddy, Angelo, the other day

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and saying, "Hey, you know what?
What about coastal conservation? Will

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that really play a role?" Because
the MPA systems are gonna be smaller.

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Now, you might have a network of MPAs
within that coastal system, but each MPA

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individually will be very small and may
not contribute much to the 30% number.

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Like, are we looking at that number?

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Are we looking at area?

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Are we looking at quality of that area?

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There's a lot of stuff that goes on.

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That 30 by 30 policy that the world
has taken on through the Convention

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of Biological Diversity, that has
become, not necessarily a farce,

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but a little bit of an exaggeration
of what we really wanna do.

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Now, of course, it has been successful
'cause we went from 1% global

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protection to 10% global protection.

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We're far off from the 30%, but
I have a feeling that will ramp

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up as we get closer to the 2030.

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But still, at least we've increased
it by order of magnitude in

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terms of the area of protection.

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And any area of protection at
this point is better than nothing.

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Countries announce protections all the
time, but enforcement really remains weak.

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Funding falls short, political priorities
shift, as we see in the US all the time.

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And of course, like, the industries
continue operating largely

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unchanged because they're not
getting enforced on the topic.

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That's a concern here too, especially
with this high seas treaty.

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Will governments actually invest
in monitoring and enforcement?

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Will they?

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Will marine protected areas
become meaningful restrictions

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or symbolic boundaries?

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It's gonna be really difficult to find out
who's in charge of that enforcement, if

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there's a high seas marine protected area.

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So will countries cooperate when
economic interests are threatened?

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That's gonna be something to look
forward to, to see what happens.

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Those questions still
don't have clear answers.

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And this is why many marine conservation
leaders are emphasizing that we

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need accountability, not just a
celebration of announcing that there's

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gonna be a marine protected area.

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My interview tomorrow with Rebecca Hubbard
and many others, they have repeatedly

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stressed that ratification is critical,
so the countries have to ratify high seas.

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We have 89 so far.

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We still need a lot more to get to our 190
or 195, however many countries there are.

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Countries must formally adopt the
treaty before it can fully move forward.

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And then implementation
becomes a major next hurdle.

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We still need people to ratify,
still need countries to ratify.

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And to be honest, storytelling
comes through on this.

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If you want countries to ratify,
you have to speak to your members of

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representation, of your government,
if you're in a democratic society.

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That's the whole purpose of that.

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So when you actually go and talk
to your representative, you

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have to come with a story.

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You gotta say why this is important to
you, why it's important for Canada or for

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the US or for the UK or for India or for
Brazil or for Sri Lanka or for Bangladesh

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or for Europe to say, "Hey We need to
have these marine protected areas, and we

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need to have them now, and this is why.

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And you tell the story to that person
so that you get them interested.

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And if you're an organization that's
working on the high seas and wants to

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help out and wants to help tell those
stories, you can hire the company that

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I work for, that's also the sponsor
for this episode, is Pisces Oceans.

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I work for them.

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I am the Oceans Communications Manager.

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We work with a small team, but we also
have a great list of associates that can

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help and help your organization not only
manage projects but tell the stories to

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really drive the information home that
we need marine protected areas in the

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high seas, and that countries should
be listening, and that companies that

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are involved in industrial activity in
the high seas should also be listening.

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They should be following this.

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And so if you wanna learn more
about Pisces Oceans, you can

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go to piscesoceans.ca, and
you can find out more about us.

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We'd happy to talk to you.

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And you can also DM me in my
social links in the show notes.

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So what should success actually look
like when we talk about the high seas.

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It probably wouldn't happen overnight.

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It's gonna take a long
time for this to happen.

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But success would probably mean
measurable biodiversity recovery, like

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actual measurable, scientific monitoring
happening, stronger international

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cooperation, reduced illegal fishing,
meaningful protected areas, better

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monitoring transparency, and long-term
political commitment beyond the

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political term of a particular party.

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We're talking long term,
where it is bipartisan.

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People are on whatever side of the aisle
or whatever political party you're a part

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of, you are actually going to support
this long term, not just when you're in

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and when you're out, somebody else says,
"No, we're not gonna be doing this."

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We don't want that to happen.

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That flip-flopping cannot happen anymore.

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And it happens a lot, not just in the US.

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It happens a lot.

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And maybe most importantly, success
would mean treating the high

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seas as a shared responsibility
instead of an unlimited resource.

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That mindset shift actually matters
because for centuries, much of the ocean

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has been governed around extraction first.

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"Let's just use this resource as much
as possible, and we don't have to care

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about the damage because we're probably
not gonna have to worry about that." Now,

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the world is beginning to ask whether
protection should carry equal weight.

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The High Seas Treaty talks about equality
when we make these types of decisions.

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That's a major philosophical change.

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And the next decade may determine
whether it becomes reality.

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And that will be interesting to see,
beyond 2030, what's gonna happen.

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The High Seas Treaty is not a
guaranteed victory for the ocean.

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We know that for sure.

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But it is an opportunity
for us to make some changes.

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What happens next depends on whether
countries are willing to turn promises

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into measurable action, because protection
only works when it becomes real, and we

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see people actually working to implement
and enforce these marine protected

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areas, making sure that genetic material
that is taken from the ocean is equally

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shared among countries that can take
that out, has the technology, and also

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can't take that out, and is shared.

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This is where we have to work together.

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This is a huge shift in the way
the world works, but we're at a

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precipice where things need to change.

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We've seen that politically happen and
being said, it's starting to happen

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with economics and trade, and now it's
gonna have to happen within the ocean

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as well and managing these types of
resources, which is gonna be a lot

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more difficult because there's so many
countries that depend on ocean resources.

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And so that's gonna be interesting
to see what happens in the future.

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But look, that's the episode for today.

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We are gonna be talking to Rebecca
Hubbard tomorrow who's the

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director of the High Seas Alliance.

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We're gonna find out more.

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I hope that I've prepped you enough in
these four solo episodes beforehand,

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Monday to Thursday, so that you
can understand our conversation.

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That's really what I do for these, is
just kinda talk about individual things

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that we talk about in the interview
episode, so you get a better knowledge.

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You're prepared now.

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You've heard some of this stuff, and
you get to hear Rebecca's take

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on it, and I think it's wonderful.

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Rebecca's an amazing person.

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You're gonna love hearing her voice.

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You're gonna love hearing
what she has to say.

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The High Seas Alliance has been playing a
huge role in the negotiations for the High

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Seas Treaty as well as now beyond the High
Seas Treaty after it's being ratified.

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So this is huge.

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I can't wait to see what happens next.

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And of course, you can always
contact me in my socials.

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If you go to the show notes, you
can just DM me on Instagram, TikTok.

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If you wanna hit me up on
speakupforblue.com/feedback,

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you can do that as well.

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There's so many ways of doing so.

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But thank you so much for joining
me on today's episode of the How

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to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.

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Have a great day.

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We'll talk to you next
time, and happy conservation