The UK government has signed the High Seas Treaty into law, a crucial step towards the Sargasso Sea being fully protected as an ocean sanctuary. Today campaigners are calling for the government in Bermuda to work with the UK to deliver the strongest possible protection for the Sargasso Sea – as one of the first high seas ocean sanctuaries – and also to secure a vital role for Bermuda in managing the sanctuary.
Why is the Treaty significant?
The High Seas Treaty is the most important global agreement on the environmental crisis since the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. With less than 1% of the High Seas currently fully or highly protected, the Treaty is crucial to expanding ocean protection, establishing sanctuaries that allow biodiversity to recover and wildlife to thrive, helping to mitigate the climate crisis, and safeguarding food security for the billions who depend on ocean resources. The High Seas Treaty provides the tool required to create the largest network of global marine protected areas in history. This could shield over a third of the ocean from destructive activities, like industrial fishing and oil drilling, and give marine life space to survive and thrive, including in the Sargasso Sea.
Why does effective ocean governance matter?
In just one year on the high seas of the Sargasso Sea in 2023, fishing vessels used drifting longlines with an estimated combined total length of 1,980km, more than enough to cover the distance from Bermuda to New York City. Thirty-three longline vessels were active on the high seas area of the Sargasso Sea in 2023, spending a combined total of 22,881 hours engaged in apparent fishing activity.
Deep-sea mining isn’t currently taking place commercially anywhere in the world but it poses a huge threat to the global seafloor. Polymetallic sulphides and gas hydrates deposits have been found on the Sargasso’s seabed, and while these are not considered commercially significant, an exploration mining contract has been granted for the Mid-Atlantic Ridge by the International Seabed Authority in waters just outside the Sargasso Sea.
What role does Bermuda play in global ocean conservation?
Bermuda has already led pioneering efforts to conserve the Sargasso Sea, aiming to protect the species that inhabit and migrate through it. It must now expand and continue this work in partnership with the UK government, for the long term, ensuring the Sargasso Sea is preserved for all future generations.
Noelle Young, Campaigner, Sustainability Solutionist & Environmental Justice Delegate from Bermuda, said:
“The success of the High Seas Treaty will not be measured solely by the number of protected areas that are created, but by how they are created. It will rightly be measured by the recovery of whales, sharks, seabirds, turtles, fish, and countless other species. But we should not forget that the people of small island communities are part of that biodiversity too.
“Nowhere is that more evident than in the tiny island of Bermuda, where the health of the Sargasso Sea and the wellbeing of our people are inseparable. The people who call these oceans home hold centuries of knowledge that cannot be found in scientific journals alone. Global decision-makers have a responsibility to listen, learn, and ensure that our knowledge helps shape these new international ocean policies. Our goal is the same: A thriving ocean.
“This Treaty gives global leaders an opportunity not only to protect one of the world’s most remarkable marine ecosystems, but also to demonstrate that truly sustainable conservation can only be achieved when international policy and human rights are allowed to advance together. Bermudians are not asking to stand in the way of conservation – we are inviting leaders to share their privilege, so that together we can build stronger international ocean policy to protect the Sargasso Sea that we call home.”
The Sargasso Sea Advisory Council, set up and chaired by Noelle Young, has been established to campaign for lasting international protection for the Sargasso Sea and ensure Bermuda has a direct, formal voice in how that ecosystem is governed.
The potential environmental, social and economic benefits to Bermuda of a Sargasso Sea Ocean Sanctuary are significant, but as an Overseas Territory, Bermuda doesn’t have a direct voice in the United Nations. Therefore, the UK must take the cause forward on the global stage.
Chris Thorne, Greenpeace UK oceans campaigner, said:
“The UK’s new prime minister Andy Burnham must seize the opportunity that the High Seas Treaty brings and champion bold proposals to protect vast swathes of the Atlantic Ocean, including the Sargasso Sea, as part of a promise to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030. Greenpeace has been collaborating with environmental groups, scientists, fishers and politicians in Bermuda, the islands of which are surrounded by the Sargasso Sea. This uniquely biodiverse part of the Atlantic Ocean must be prioritised as one of the first ocean sanctuaries under the Treaty, free from all destructive industrial activity, and Bermuda should have a vital role in managing the sanctuary. We must ensure protection for the Sargasso’s precious sea life, including whales and other important migratory species.”
As advised by scientists, governments around the world set the ambitious target to protect at least 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 but, with biodiversity in steep decline and less than five years left on the clock, the race is on to achieve this. Governments must mobilise swiftly and use the next six months before the first Ocean COP (COP1), in January 2027, to develop proposals for new high seas sanctuaries, including the Sargasso Sea. These areas must be fully or highly protected to ensure that vast areas of the ocean are closed to extractive and destructive human activities, unlike many current Marine Protected Areas, including those in the UK, which are protected in name only.
Governments need to ensure that the development of sanctuaries is based on robust scientific evidence and with participation from Indigenous Peoples and local communities to ensure the process is both driven by science and is socially just.
