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The Turtle Island Restoration Network's global marine biodiversity conservation efforts include international campaigning to protect the high seas, or areas of the ocean outside of the jurisdiction from a nearby nation. Over half of the surface of the Earth is high seas. To achieve our goals, Turtle Island is an active partner in the High Seas Alliance.

Over a dozen organizations have come together as the High Seas Alliance, urging all States participating in the 12th Meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (ICP) to recommend bold action on high seas governance and the protection of marine life.

Click here to download the new High Seas Alliance call to action.

Specifically, the Turtle Island Restoration Network and the High Seas Alliance strongly encourage States to:

Ensure that the United Nations General Assembly convene, as a matter of urgency, an intergovernmental conference on strengthening high seas governance, as it provides a promising way forward to address the issues, with a mandate to:
1) Adopt governance reforms that fulfill States’ commitments under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea for the effective conservation and protection of the marine environment and marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, on a precautionary and integrated basis;
2) Address the issues on the sharing of benefits from marine genetic resources, measures such as area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments, capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology; and
3) Establish a mechanism for the establishment and management, within five years, of a fully comprehensive, effectively managed and globally representative system of high seas Marine Protected Areas, including no-take reserves.