The high seas and deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction comprise 64% of the world ocean’s surface and 80% of the global biosphere by volume. Fishing is the most pressing threat to high seas biodiversity and ecosystems, but other activities such as shipping, waste dumping, land-based pollutants and plastics, military activities, and even marine scientific research can have significant impacts. Beyond the general obligations of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to protect and preserve the marine environment and conserve its resources, no specific mechanisms exist to provide for coordinated management and conservation of high seas biodiversity. For example, regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) are the lead institutions addressing the impacts of fishing. However, of the twenty-four in existence, eleven are purely advisory, and seven are restricted by mandate to a single species or groups of species. Only five RFMOs have both regulatory competence and jurisdiction over all species within a particular geographic region of the high seas. However, these cover a small percentage of the ocean (the Northeast and Northwest Atlantic, part of the South East Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Southern Ocean). Moreover, of these five, only the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources has made significant progress in incorporating ecosystem-based and precautionary approaches. High seas MPAs can provide a tool to enhance integrated, precautionary and ecosystem-based oceans management by providing an area-based framework for protecting species, habitats and ecosystems. They can serve as a focal point for improving coordination among existing institutions such as the RFMOs, regional seas programs, the International Seabed Authority, and the International Maritime Organization, and instruments, such as UNCLOS, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the Convention on Migratory Species. In order to address the most immediate threat to high seas biodiversity, MPAs must be integrated with national and international regulation of fishing activities. Over the longer term, they can help to promote a balance between preservation and a wide range of sustainable uses.
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