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