HIGH SEASSAVING THE

6 JUNIOR.SCHOLASTIC.COM • NOVEMBER 21, 2016

INTERNATIONAL Environment • Map Skills

IN THE MIDDLE of the North Atlantic Ocean lies an

area known as the Sargasso Sea. Thick clumps of

seaweed float on its surface. They provide shelter for

baby sea turtles. This stretch of water is also a breeding

ground for endangered eels, a feeding stop for migrating

whales, and a home for hundreds of other species. Some

of those species are found nowhere else on the planet.

This ecosystem is so complex that the Sargasso Sea (see

map, pp. 10-11) is often called a “floating rainforest.”

The Sargasso Sea is a very important place in need of

protection. Its marine life is threatened by overfishing

and plastic waste. The Sargasso is so far from any

country’s shores, however, that no one nation has the

legal authority to fully protect the area.

More than half of the world’s ocean waters are in the

same boat. They are too far from shore to be governed

by any one country. Under international law, countries

control only the waters within about 230 miles of their

shores. The waters beyond that are known as the high

seas. They belong to everyone.

More than half of the planet is covered by water that belongs to all of us. Why is so little of it protected?

BY MARY KATE FRANK

NOVEMBER 21, 2016 • JUNIOR.SCHOLASTIC.COM 7

The number of some fish species, like these jack mackerel, has plummeted in the high seas. Experts say overfishing is to blame.

8 JUNIOR.SCHOLASTIC.COM • NOVEMBER 21, 2016

The high seas cover about 80 million square miles and

contain some of the most important and threatened

ecosystems in the world. Only about 1 percent of those

waters are protected. Very few rules exist about what can

and cannot be done there.

But a new United Nations (U.N.)

treaty could change that. Conser va­

tionists hope it will let new protected

areas be created on the high seas. The

treaty could also say that people who

want to take part in fishing, drilling, or

other commercial activities on the

high seas must report how their actions

might affect the environment.

Such measures would be a step

toward helping the oceans recover from damage that

has already been done. Habitat destruction, overfishing,

pollution, and climate change are “pushing the ocean

system to the point of collapse,” says a 2014 report by the

Global Ocean Commission.

“People assume that the ocean is going to go on and

on, but it’s really in very desperate shape due to human

activities,” says Peggy Kalas. She works for the High Seas

Alliance, a partnership of more than 30 environmental

groups that want to protect the high seas. “If this treaty

goes forward, it will be a game changer for the ocean and

the way that it’s regulated down the road.”

The Ocean’s RoleHumans could not live on Earth

without the ocean. It produces much

of our food and more than half of the

planet’s oxygen. It regulates the

climate by trapping the sun’s heat and

by absorbing some of the carbon

dioxide we release into the atmo­

sphere. The ocean gives us energy in

the form of wave, wind, and tidal

power. It is also very important to the global economy.

More than 90 percent of the world’s trade, including

products from TVs to jeans, travels by sea.

The high seas play an essential role in all of those

areas. But one of the most important things ocean waters

offer, scientists say, is their wealth of biodiversity.Early explorers thought the open ocean was lifeless,

but it is full of life. Sharks, whales, sea turtles, and

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INTERNATIONAL

THE HIGH SEAS ARE HOME TO SOME OF THE

MOST IMPORTANT ECOSYSTEMS IN

THE WORLD.

ROBOT EXPLORERScientists often use deep-sea robots to visit parts of the ocean that are too difficult or dangerous for human divers to reach. One of the newest and most advanced is called OceanOne (right), designed by a team at Stanford University in California. Among its features: “hands” covered in sensors that can determine an object’s weight and texture. This information enables the person controlling OceanOne to basically “feel” what the robot is touching. OceanOne can navigate delicate coral reefs and even pick up objects. It recently retrieved a vase from a 17th-century shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea.

OceanOne has video camera “eyes” that allow

scientists to see what’s happening underwater.

NOVEMBER 21, 2016 • JUNIOR.SCHOLASTIC.COM 9

seabirds are just a few of the animals that live in these

waters. Beneath the waves lie deep­water coral reefs,

vast mountain ranges, and creatures that have not yet

been discovered. With nearly every voyage to the deep

sea, scientists find new species. And there is still plenty

left to uncover. As much as 95 percent of the ocean

remains unexplored. (See “Robot Explorer,” left.)

The Law of the SeaThe main international agreement related to the ocean

was reached in the 1970s. That was before much deep­

sea exploration had taken place. The 1970s treaty set

rules for everything from shipping to navigating. Perhaps

most important, it established that each country has the

sole right to the natural resources within 230 miles of its

shores. But the treaty did not go into details about the

natural resources that lie beyond those areas.

So who oversees the high seas? The answer is a host of

groups. Each group handles only a very specific issue.

The International Maritime Organization, for example,

regulates shipping. The International Seabed Authority

is in charge of deep­sea mining. Various regional

organizations manage fishing. But there is little

coordination between the different agencies. That

makes it difficult to protect the high seas.

Marine scientist Lisa Speer is the director of the

Natural Resources Defense Council’s International

Oceans Program. She says that the open ocean is like the

Wild West. “There are few rules and no sheriff,” says

Speer. “It’s basically a free­for­all.”

One example of this is the activity of commercial

fishermen. They take too many fish from the high seas.

As much as 90 percent of some large fish species, such

as tuna and swordfish, have disappeared from the ocean.

The heavy nets used to catch the fish scrape the seafloor,

destroying corals and other delicate marine life.

The new U.N. treaty could create new rules for

industries on the high seas. It may require anyone

planning activities that might cause damage there to

submit a report about what could happen. The

information would then be made available to the public.

Sanctuaries of the DeepThe new treaty could also allow for more marine

protected areas to be created. These are areas of water

that are protected for conservation purposes. Some of

them allow activities such as swimming or fishing.

Top: Great white sharks migrate through the high seas. Right: Thick seaweed helps hide baby turtles from predators in the Sargasso Sea.

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ATLANTICOCEAN

ARCTICOCEAN

SOUTHERNOCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

INDIANOCEAN

NORTHAMERICA

AFRICA

ANTARCTICA

EUROPE

ASIA

AUSTRALIA

SOUTHAMERICA

EQUATOR

HAWAIIWAKEATOLL

JOHNSTONATOLL

HOWLANDISLAND &BAKERISLAND

JARVISISLAND

KINGMANREEF &PALMYRAATOLL NEW CALEDONIA

SOUTH GEORGIA ANDSOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS

U.S.Sargasso

Sea

Marine protected areas** Includes protected areas that have beendesignated but are awaiting implementation.

PapahānaumokuākeaMarine National MonumentGoverned by: U.S.Area: 583,000 sq mi

Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument Governed by: U.S.Area: 490,000 sq mi

South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected AreaGoverned by: United KingdomArea: 386,000 sq mi

10 JUNIOR.SCHOLASTIC.COM • NOVEMBER 21, 2016

INTERNATIONAL

Others are much more restrictive. The United States has

more than 1,200 marine protected areas.

Establishing similar sanctuaries (safe places) on the

high seas is very difficult. But just last month, after years

of negotiations, a group of more than 20 nations did just

that. They agreed to protect about 600,000 square miles

of the Southern Ocean off the coast of Antarctica. That

part of the high seas will become one of the world’s

largest marine protected areas. Environmentalists hope

this will lead to more such joint efforts in the future.

Protected areas provide a safe place for marine life

and important habitats. They can also help improve the

overall health of the ocean. That is key, because the

ocean is working overtime to absorb extra carbon

dioxide that is a result of climate change.

Already, the ocean has absorbed about 30 percent of

the carbon dioxide that humans have generated since the

Industrial Revolution and more than 90 percent of the

additional heat we have generated since the 1950s. These

changes are making ocean waters warmer and more

acidic, which harms some animal and plant species.

Creating a network of large, well­managed protected

areas in the high seas would give ecosystems a chance to

recover from environmental changes, experts say. “I

think one of the most important things we ever did was

to create a system of national parks, like Yellowstone,”

says Kalas of the High Seas Alliance. “It’s something

that’s important to do now for the ocean.”

High Seas DiscoveriesGetting every country to agree on a new treaty will not be

easy. One of the toughest issues to be settled has to do

with what might be found in the ocean. For instance, if

one country uncovers cancer­curing (or even pimple­

curing) algae in the high seas, should every country share

in the financial rewards? Or is it a case of finders keepers?

This is a complex issue, not least because some

countries lack the technology and funds to search the

ocean floor for the next medical breakthrough.

“There’s only a handful of countries in the world that

can actually go to the bottom of the sea and extract

things,” explains Jessica F. Green, an environmental

studies professor at New York University. “Developing countries are really interested in making sure that if

extraction occurs, they benefit from it, even though

they’re not capable of actually doing it.” But developed

countries, such as the U.S. and Japan, may not be so eager

to share profits. JIM

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Global Marine Protected Areas

This map shows the location of marine

protected areas (MPAs) around the world,

including five of the largest ones.

Challenges AheadU.N. delegates are now meeting to discuss what might

be in the new high seas treaty. If all goes smoothly, the

agreement could be adopted in the next few years.

So far, the U.S. is supporting the treaty. That could go a

long way toward getting other governments to accept it as

well. If the treaty is adopted, nations will then face the

challenge of figuring out how to put it into effect.

Enforcement is not easy in an area as vast as the high seas.

Still, conservationists say, we have to try. “You need

sheriffs, you need rules, you need control over what

people do,” says Speer, the marine scientist. “That

concept applies to the ocean as well as to land.” ◆

SOURCE: Marine Conservation Institute, with data from MPAtlas.org

ATLANTICOCEAN

ARCTICOCEAN

SOUTHERNOCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

INDIANOCEAN

NORTHAMERICA

AFRICA

ANTARCTICA

EUROPE

ASIA

AUSTRALIA

SOUTHAMERICA

EQUATOR

HAWAIIWAKEATOLL

JOHNSTONATOLL

HOWLANDISLAND &BAKERISLAND

JARVISISLAND

KINGMANREEF &PALMYRAATOLL NEW CALEDONIA

SOUTH GEORGIA ANDSOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS

U.S.Sargasso

Sea

Marine protected areas** Includes protected areas that have beendesignated but are awaiting implementation.

Natural Park of the Coral SeaGoverned by: FranceArea: 499,000 sq mi

Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine ReserveGoverned by: AustraliaArea: 382,000 sq mi

NOVEMBER 21, 2016 • JUNIOR.SCHOLASTIC.COM 11

1. The Sargasso Sea is located in which ocean? 2. Which ocean is the farthest north? 3. Natural Park of the Coral Sea is under the

authority of which country? 4. Which MPA covers the most square miles? 5. That MPA is located off the northwestern

coast of which U.S. state? 6. The equator passes through parts of which

MPA labeled on the map?

7. Which continent has the largest area of protected waters surrounding it?

8. Which continents border the Indian Ocean? 9. In which direction would you travel to get

from the central U.S. to the MPA under U.K. authority?

10. Which ocean lies both west of North America and South America as well as east of Asia and Australia?

Questions

What are some obstacles to protecting the high seas? Cite facts from the text.

YOUR TURN

Watch a video about the OceanOne robot at junior.scholastic.com.

SOURCE: Marine Conservation Institute, with data from MPAtlas.org