High Seas Treaty

Now, what exactly is all that word salad? Got the Globe and Mail posting this.

Canada ratifies landmark high seas treaty commits 82 million to ocean protection.

Hmm.

canada is an ocean nation we have the world's longest coastline as a consequence of that that's our inheritance and we recognize the obligations and responsibilities that come with that to help lead efforts to understand those oceans and of course to protect them said mr carney speaking at the launch of ocean eye international alliance so that's right he's putting the priorities of the ocean ahead of canadians now the The money will pay for year-round mooring in the Arctic Ocean, which is warming four times faster than the global average, said Mr. Carney.

This will be happening in Halifax.

Dinah Fox Carney will be leading this as this new ocean envoy.

And as for the High Seas Treaty that was just ratified, you can see this agreement under the United Nations Convention of the law of the sea on conservation and sustainable use of marine biology, diversity of areas, et cetera, et cetera.

So this was initially adopted in June of 2023.

This is why Canada has invested $80 million to strengthen global ocean observation.

This is also why we have just ratified the High Sea Treaty to ensure protection of international waters that cover nearly half of the planet.

Next year, Canada will host the Oceans Conference, which will bring together governments, Indigenous leaders, scientists, and coastal communities around the same objective – to move from ambition to action to protect our oceans and ensure sustainability.

Partners are working with Canada because Canada is predictable, reliable, and principled in a world that's anything but.

but they cannot silence us here they just try to avoid they avoid us they also try to you know to to to do their work without you us knowing what is happening you know but yeah it's yeah it is not really working here because if we challenge them they just say no they are not using fresh fish they are not competing with uh local consumption you know xyz

Do you think global treaties bring any hope? And I can use the example of the UN High Seas Treaty and others similar.

Do you think that actually brings hope to change?

yeah yeah you know uh at this moment you know the world the word at this the the divergences that we have in the international area so if we have this kind of situation that all the states sit and found a treaty on the conservation of the ocean is yeah it's hope And the hope is beyond that because what is happening is that now we were talking about illegal fishing, you know, and this is in the economic exclusive zones of the countries, the area of our jurisdictions.

And what's coming next, Peter? You mentioned Rio.

You've mentioned the first of the BBNJ.

meetings that's happening in january

any anything else on the

it's definitely something we're exploring to use right whales because of the long-term data set we have on how we can inform high seas marine protected areas.

You might know that the United Nations has recently declared the High Seas Treaty, where we're looking at protection of ocean environment away from national jurisdictions.

And because our animals, you know, they come to South Africa to give birth to their babies, but they obviously navigate high seas that are beyond any national jurisdiction.

And so see how we can use these animals and the signals they give us to protect high seas a bit better.

I think one of the main findings of the report and this section is that SIDS have exercised a lot of leadership internationally when it comes to championing their special development situation and have achieved some important victories.

So things like the 1.5 degree target, advocating for the recent creation of the loss and damage fund, the BBNJ treaty, what we also call the high seas treaty.

So SIDS have played a really important role in championing their own interests and achieving those successes.

And we really need to see that matched now by commensurate support from the international community.

The current status is we anticipate that we should surpass that just early enough by about tw- uh, 2029 because we are ahead of schedule.

And when you combine that with the new High Seas Treaty that took effect this year, we're finally h- building an international system that is really focused on protecting the ocean because regardless of what happens here on land, the ocean is basically the driver of our ecosystem here.

That and the sun, obviously.

But we spend a lot of time talking about these international agreements that don't accomplish anything, or the UN is kind of this, this effete body of, of nothing burgers that they, they can never get anything across the finish line.

It's called the 30 by 30 push.

But, uh...

And we actually helped negotiate the High Seas Treaty, but we signed these, the, this treaty in September 20th of 2023.

I think it's one of those things where Donald Trump just hasn't realized that this is in effect yet.

Um, all right.

A little bit of news, the high seas treaty, the first legally binding international agreement, protecting marine life in the ocean entered, uh, into effect January of this year, 2026, uh, So, Andrew, do you think it will do anything in practice? Do you think it will be useful? Does it have teeth to it?

This is always an interesting one because we've seen a lot of international agreements come into place.

The high seas has been in the making 20 years, maybe 30 years.

So they will get an equitable share of what happens.

Now, how that's going to work out, I have no idea.

But that's what's in the high seas treaty right now is these types of processes and conflict like solutions that you'll see when one or more or two or more nations kind of get to a certain point and be like how we are going to manage this.

We're going to see marine protected areas and spots that have traditionally been overfished or there's critical habitats in there that we've discovered and it needs to be protected so that we can save the rest.

Also, you know, the big powers are not able to control everything.

When you look at a number of things that have happened, the High Seas Treaty, which is opening up the oceans to protect biodiversity.

a new protocol against crimes against humanity that is being agreed by 120 countries outside the major powers.

You've got new trade arrangements being agreed outside China, Russia and America because the other countries are not prepared to accept that they can just block trade appeals that were now being prevented by America withdrawing its support for the system.

And now they're, there's a, whether it's through evolved recognition of the importance of the ecosystem or whether it's public pressure, whether it's all of these things, market pressure, there's, there's a realization, understanding, and now action to do more to protect these other species that are, that are in- associated with these fisheries.

Now, um, one th- one thing in my mind that I will never forget, okay, that I will always picture and I'll always have it in my head, uh, and it has to do with policy, uh, was when the High Seas Treaty was finally agreed upon.

And, uh, there was, there's a video online, and it made the news of, uh, and unfortunately I for- I, I forget the, the, the woman's name, but she was chair of the, of the committee.

She put her gavel down in the final sort of agreement that everybody was, y- you know, agreed upon.