For conservationists, one of the major achievements of the high seas treaty was that it created a means to establish marine protected areas (MPAs) in international waters. High seas MPAs are viewed as essential to meeting the looming 2030 deadline to protect 30% of the Earth’s ocean, especially since countries have only just reached one-third of that goal. Now, the multilateral organizations that manage high seas fishing, known as regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), are pushing to make sure their own work is not duplicated or displaced. Some conservationists see the RFMOs’ engagement as a way of inhibiting protection efforts, arguing that RFMOs are heavily influenced by fishing industry priorities. The high seas treaty, more formally called the agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), was agreed to by the world’s nations in 2023 and took effect in January. A summit to draft BBNJ rules took place March 23-April 2 at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. There, five major RFMOs jointly proposed changes to the draft rules of procedure that would help enshrine their authority to be part of decision-making under the treaty. The draft rules that emerged from the summit, to be voted on at a future meeting, accommodated the RFMOs’ wishes, according to critical observers. “The BBNJ agreement was intended to be this overarching agreement to protect all high seas biodiversity because [that protection] is fragmented, because it is inefficient,” Gabrielle Carmine, a postdoctoral fellow…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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