high seas

Understanding how marine species use the high seas: The Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean (MiCO) system

September 27, 2017 | Policy Forum, Ecology and Biodiversity, High Seas

By Guillermo Ortuño Crespo, Nereus Program Fellow at Duke University

Due to their wide-ranging swimming behaviors, migratory fish, marine mammal, seabird and sea turtle species experience a variety, and an increasing amount, of anthropogenic pressures over the course of their lives. These threats, including climate change, overfishing, and marine pollution, combined with conservation strategies that largely fail to consider spatial connectivity over the life cycle, are resulting in declining populations worldwide.

Step forward in protecting the high seas, despite competing interests

August 4, 2017 | Policy Forum, High Seas

The high seas — also called international waters — comprise 64% of the world’s oceans and 45% of the earth’s surface. They are shared by the world but governed by no one country. That means that the incredible biodiversity of the high seas, from seaweeds to fish to sharks, is not currently protected.

POLICY BRIEF: Deep, distant and dynamic: critical considerations for incorporating the open-ocean into a new BBNJ treaty

July 28, 2017 | Latest News, Policy Briefs, High Seas

To ensure a robust new International Legally Binding Instrument (ILBI) for the high seas, adequate attention will need to be placed on how the governance structures can address both fragile, static deep-sea ecosystems and immense, highly dynamic open-ocean ecosystems. In this policy brief we provide examples of open-ocean ecosystems, their importance to coastal States, and considerations of how to ensure the robust conservation and sustainable use of dynamic pelagic systems and biological diversity under a new ILBI.

A review of the impacts of fisheries on open-ocean ecosystems

June 21, 2017 | Publication Highlights, Ecology and Biodiversity, High Seas

Due to the expansion of fishing practices, fish catches have become stagnant at best while global fishing efforts continue to grow, ultimately creating major stresses on marine resources. Fisheries impacts on both coastal and deep-sea ecosystems are well understood and documented; however, the biological and ecological impacts of fishing on open-ocean systems are not well studied or documented.

Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) PrepCom3 Side Event

April 10, 2017 | Latest News

The Nereus Program hosted a side event at the 3rd Preparatory Committee Meeting on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), March 27 to April 7 at the UN Headquarters, in New York. The side event entitled “Adjacency: How legal precedent, ecological connectivity, and traditional knowledge inform our understanding of proximity” was held on April 4.

POLICY BRIEF: Adjacency: How legal precedent, ecological connectivity, and Traditional Knowledge inform our understanding of proximity

April 4, 2017 | Latest News, Policy Briefs, Climate Change, High Seas

Pursuant to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), all States have customary and treaty obligations to protect and preserve the marine environment and its resources. Several countries have expressed an interest in the question of whether States could properly assert priority over the conservation of areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) adjacent to their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). The term “adjacency”, with respect to maritime coastal boundaries, refers to a State’s spatial proximity with the open ocean and deep sea in ABNJ.

Big data and fisheries management: Using satellites to track fishing activity

October 17, 2016 | Policy Forum, Fisheries

“After climate change, fishing is the biggest impact humans will have on the oceans. But we have very a limited understanding of what happens beyond the horizon. It’s out of sight,” says David Kroodsma, Global Fishing Watch Research Program Manager at SkyTruth. “Global Fishing Watch allows us to see where the fishing is happening and how much. This will lead to whole hosts of answers to questions about how we manage our oceans.”

Second Session of the Preparatory Committee for Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

September 16, 2016 | Latest News

The Second Session of the Preparatory Committee related to Marine Biological Diversity Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction took place from August 26th to September 9th at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, United States. Nereus Senior Research Fellow at Duke Daniel Dunn and Nereus Principal Investigator at Duke Patrick Halpin attended the session and presented at a series of side events.

IUCN World Conservation Congress

September 1, 2016

Nereus Director (Policy) Yoshitaka Ota will attend the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Honolulu, Hawaii, from September 1st to September 5th. He will organize a Knowledge Cafe on Governance on…

Sustainable management of the high seas could recoup fish stock losses due to climate change

August 30, 2016 | Publication Highlights, Climate Change, Fisheries

Closing the high seas to fishing could increase fish catches in coastal waters by 10%, compensating for expected losses due to climate change, finds a new Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program study published in Fish and Fisheries.

The high seas are those areas of the ocean outside the jurisdiction of countries; the high seas cover nearly two thirds of the ocean’s surface. These results could be seen by 2050 relative to 2000 and cooperatively managing the high seas fisheries would have similar effects.

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high seas

Understanding how marine species use the high seas: The Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean (MiCO) system

Step forward in protecting the high seas, despite competing interests

POLICY BRIEF: Deep, distant and dynamic: critical considerations for incorporating the open-ocean into a new BBNJ treaty

A review of the impacts of fisheries on open-ocean ecosystems

Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) PrepCom3 Side Event

POLICY BRIEF: Adjacency: How legal precedent, ecological connectivity, and Traditional Knowledge inform our understanding of proximity

Big data and fisheries management: Using satellites to track fishing activity

Second Session of the Preparatory Committee for Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

IUCN World Conservation Congress

Sustainable management of the high seas could recoup fish stock losses due to climate change

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