Date: 24/02/2023

Relevance: GS-3: Biodiversity and Environment

Key Phrases: London Convention, "indiscriminate" fishing, Tectitethya crypta, leukemia, bycatch, Conus magus, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Context:

• While the high seas make up more than 60% of the world’s oceans, they have long drawn far less attention than coastal waters.
• The UN wants to protect them in a global treaty.

Key Highlights:

• Vast parts of the world’s oceans are still the Wild West when it comes to conservation.
• Fishing, shipping, tourism, and ocean protection are currently controlled by around 20 organizations.
• However, their regulations only apply to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from the coast.
• Farther out, international waters start, and individual states don’t have any power or say.
• Although the high seas make up more than half of the surface of the Earth and 61% of all oceans, only 1% of international waters are under protection.
• Illegal fishing, overfishing and other forms of damage to the ecosystem, such as deep-sea mining, oil and gas drilling, can hardly be monitored, tracked or prosecuted in a consistent way.
• That’s why government officials from 51 countries want to now negotiate the High Seas Treaty at the United Nations in New York.

How are Oceans Being Damaged?

• The biggest driver of environmental decline in the ocean has been from "indiscriminate" fishing.
• This not only depletes fish stocks but erodes the ability of their populations to rebuild, and many fish are accidentally caught and later discarded as waste - so-called bycatch.
• According to estimates, bycatch accounts for about 40% of the world's global commercial catch.
• Pollution is another major cause of harm, including plastics, sewage, and excess nutrients which wash from the land to create "dead zones" in the ocean by causing an overgrowth of bacteria on the sea floor that uses up oxygen and suffocates other life.
• At the same time, climate change is also hitting ocean health - causing coral reef bleaching and forcing fish to migrate to cooler waters.

Why is a healthy underwater world so important for humans and our planet?

• The resources of the ocean don’t just sustain coast dwellers, but almost 3 billion people worldwide.
• The entire sea industry has a worth of $3 trillion (€2.8 trillion) - that’s 5% of the world’s gross domestic product.
• The ocean isn’t just important for beach tourists and fishers.
• We also need it in order to generate sustainable wave and tidal energy, as well as for the production of commodities and even medicine.
• Some agents used to fight leukemia, for instance, are derived from a shallow water sponge called Tectitethya crypta, which can be found in the waters of the Caribbean.
• The poison of the fish-eating sea snail Conus magus is being used to develop an effective painkiller.

Why climate change is stressful for oceans?

• More than half of the total amount of oxygen in our atmosphere is created by creatures in the ocean.
• At the same time, oceans store 50 times more carbon dioxide than what’s currently found in our atmosphere.
• The warmer the ocean gets, the less CO2 it can store.
• It’s a vicious cycle: The warmer it gets, the less our oceans can protect the planet from even more extreme weather events.
• If temperatures keep increasing at their current speed, scientists believe many shellfish such as mussels and snails will not survive.
• That’s due to ocean acidification: If the CO2 content in the seawater increases, the PH level in the water changes.
• The increasing acidity hampers the creation of the chalky shells of the animals.
• This throws entire biospheres off-balance, and could threaten entire economic sectors, such as the breeding of oysters and mussels.
• The rising temperatures in the atmosphere triggered by the burning of coal, oil and gas also change ocean currents as the water gets warmer.
• This can already mean death for many creatures, such as corals. Corals live in symbiosis with colorful algae which help feed them.
• The warming of the water can lead to algae death, which means more stress for corals, leading to many losing their color, which is also known as coral bleaching.

How can we protect ocean ecosystems?

• Enhance Good Fishing Practices:
  • Every year, we toss away 10 million tons of fish - that could fill more than 4,500 swimming pools - because of bad fishing practices and processing.
  • This could be prevented, and in turn directly decrease pressure on our oceans.
• Building sustainable sewage systems:
  • Around 80% of global wastewater is currently being diverted into oceans, unfiltered. In the poorest countries of the world it’s even up to 95%.
  • This wastewater pollutes, contaminates and destroys oceans and coastal regions.
  • Building sustainable sewage systems, especially in developing countries, would protect ocean ecosystems and contribute to better drinking water supplies in many places.

Way Forward:

• International treaties are one of the best ways to stop the destruction of oceans.
• Many treaties have been signed in recent years regarding the protection of coastal regions.
• Some have already had a positive effect on the environment; many, however, have not been able to reach their goals.
• That has to do with the fact that agreements are always dependent on national parliaments turning them into laws, and allocating enough resources to institutions and projects so the goals can be reached.
• The EU is pushing for an ambitious new treaty for species protection and the implementation of the historic 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
• Part of this historic agreement is to put 30% of the globe under protection until 2030.

Conclusion:

• The high seas treaty being negotiated in New York would fill a "gap" by creating a legal mechanism to establish protected areas in the high sea.
• The real test will be creating those high seas protected areas and making sure that they are highly and fully protected from extractive activities.

Source: Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. Why climate change is stressful for oceans? How can we protect ocean ecosystems? (250 Words).