An Open Letter to Heads of State from World Scientists and Global Citizens

Dear Heads of States, parties to the United Nations’ Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction agreement, also known as the Treaty of the High Seas:

You are now debating the terms laid out in a potentially groundbreaking international treaty on high seas and ocean management with talks reconvening February 20-March 3 at the UN.

As scientists, as fisheries experts, and as concerned citizens of the world, we call on you to declare an unequivocal ban on fishing on the high seas as part of the Treaty of the High Seas.

Defined as the area 200 nautical miles beyond any shore, the high seas make up 43% of the surface area of the planet and two-thirds of the ocean. These international waters–considered the “common heritage of mankind”–are a critical globally shared resource. 

While few would argue with the importance of protecting the ocean, we have been arguing about how to do so for decades – despite mounting evidence showing clear necessary steps.

Let the facts speak for themselves: fishing the high seas is unprofitable. The only thing sustaining it are government subsidies–to the tune of an estimated $4.2 billion in 2014, a number that researchers found eclipses the net economic benefit of fishing there.

Unfortunately, besides being unprofitable, high seas fishing effectively ensures that ocean resources are not shared fairly. It disproportionately benefits wealthier nations. Not unrelated are the immense amounts of costly fossil fuels required to fish there, emissions that destroy marine ecosystems critical to the maintenance of the world’s currently plummeting fish stocks.

Frankly, there are no sound arguments to support a commercial fishing presence on the high seas.

Save Our Shared Ocean

We recognize that the future of our ocean lies in the hands of policymakers, particularly those party to the Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction agreement.

We request that you establish the first legally binding treaty to protect the high seas and call on you to:

• Prohibit all commercial fishing on the high seas
• Declare the high seas an United Nations Protected Area
• Establish and implement an effective global ocean monitoring force

We realize this is a big ask, but so was the creation of the first National Park and the establishment of coastline fishing areas known as Exclusive Economic Zones. There may be pushback, particularly from the fishing industry. We are asking you, world leaders, to do it anyway.

What Drives Fishing on the High Seas?

High seas fishing continues for one simple reason–greed. Since it is not inherently profitable, this finds expression in access to large government subsidies.

It also reflects intense interest in certain types of fish. Fishing in international waters targets specific fish that go for high prices before they can swim into another nation’s coastal waters.

Essentially, this practice ensures countries can collect more than their ‘fair share’ of ocean resources, taking fish away from the coastal communities that need them. 

Some of the most intensive high seas fishing is off the coast of Africa, South America and South Asia, denying food to those who can least afford it. In point of fact, high seas fishing contributes to food insecurity, human migration and piracy.

While the number of fish caught on the high seas represents less than five percent of overall catch, that number is deceptive. The impact of fishing there is far greater–in point of fact, the fish caught there are of far greater value to us alive than on our dinner plates.

Here’s why: the carbon value of one fish in the high seas is 10 times its market worth due to its critical role in storing carbon emissions. As a whole, the value of the high seas as a “carbon sink” is enormous, estimated at anywhere from US $74 billion to US $222 billion. Instead of letting these fish help us with our growing carbon problem, we’re subsidizing their elimination.

This elimination is widespread and troubling. Around the world, fish are becoming notably smaller in size and fewer in number as ocean oxygen levels dip and intensive extraction–most recently in the form of deep sea mining–cripples a body of water critical to our common wellbeing. Industrial fishing vessels cause catastrophic damage to marine ecosystems through bottom trawling, unconscionable levels of “bycatch,” or unwanted fish tossed overboard, and exorbitant carbon pollution while traversing the high seas.

This is not an intelligent way to manage our shared seas. We call on world leaders to usher in a watershed moment for ocean policy and end the negligence that has plagued ocean management for centuries. 

Ban fishing on the high seas as part of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction agreement: it’s good for fish, it’s good for people, and it’s good for the planet. 

Respectfully,

Daniel Pauly

Biologist, Founder and Principal Investigator of the University of British Columbia research initiative Sea Around Us

Rashid Sumalia

Economist, Canada Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Ocean and Fisheries Economics at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia