Why our high seas need the rule of law

The author contends that the high seas, covering 45% of the earth's surface, suffer from a lack of governance and policing, rendering the 1982 UNCLOS outdated against modern technological advances. This legal vacuum facilitates illegal fishing, pollution, and unregulated deep-sea drilling. To address this, the Global Ocean Commission proposes a 'rescue package' including a new agreement to protect biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction, the elimination of industrial fishing subsidies within five years, mandatory vessel tracking, and the creation of a 'global ocean accountability board'.

• The high seas, which comprise nearly two-thirds of the global ocean and 45% of the earth's surface, lack effective governance and policing, leaving them vulnerable to illegal economic activities and environmental degradation.
• The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) has failed to keep pace with technological advances that allow fishing and deep-sea drilling to reach further and deeper, resulting in weak transparency, accountability, and enforcement.
• Ocean health is severely threatened by plastic pollution, which kills approximately 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals annually, as well as by rising temperatures and carbon dioxide levels causing ocean acidification.
• The Global Ocean Commission proposes several governance reforms, including a new agreement to protect biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (as less than 1% of high seas are currently protected), the creation of a 'global ocean accountability board', and a convention for liability and compensation regarding offshore oil and gas production.
• Industrial high-seas fishing is kept financially viable by subsidies from the EU, China, Japan, and the United States; the author proposes capping these subsidies immediately and eliminating them within five years, noting that 60% of such subsidies encourage unsustainable practices.

APA

Velasco, A. (2014). Why our high seas need the rule of law. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/high-seas-international-waters-lawless-fishing/

Chicago

Velasco, Andrés. Why our high seas need the rule of law. World Economic Forum, 2014. https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/high-seas-international-waters-lawless-fishing/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Velasco |first1=Andrés |title=Why our high seas need the rule of law |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=1 July 2014 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/high-seas-international-waters-lawless-fishing/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{velasco2014why, author = {Velasco, Andrés}, title = {{Why our high seas need the rule of law}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2014}, month = jul, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/climate-action/high-seas-international-waters-lawless-fishing/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }