Preserving the Seas

Introduction

Coral reefs, such as this one in the Namena Marine Reserve in Fiji, teem with unique aquatic life that provides multiple benefits to humans and the environment. Climate change and pollution have killed more than half of the world's coral reefs. Some advocate a “blue economy” to develop the ocean in a sustainable way, but others are skeptical. (Getty Images/ullstein bild/Reinhard Dirscherl)

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Overview

Dustan Dickerson wants local and subsistence fishermen to have a level playing field.

Dickerson is a small-boat fisherman in Unalaska, one of the largest communities in the Aleutian Islands, an archipelago off the tip of Alaska. Due in part to the efforts of the Unalaska Native Fishermen's Association, of which Dickerson is vice president, small boats under 60 feet still have “open access” to a limited catch of cod using certain techniques, he says.

He explains, however, that boats called Super 8s, which are technically under the 60-foot threshold but are very expensive and super-sized in other ways, are taking more fish and making it harder for small boats to compete. Dickerson says the North Pacific Fishery Management Council — one of eight such organizations in the United States that manage fisheries in U.S. coastal zones — has helped to “balance commerce with sustainability,” but that “profit is still the motive for companies” and much of the sector has been privatized.

What is happening in the Aleutians highlights the competing goals of local communities, companies and marine environments that are at the core of a debate over the so-called blue economy. Businesses, governments and international institutions have increasingly been promoting this concept. While there is no commonly accepted definition, the World Bank refers to the blue economy as the “sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs and ocean ecosystem health.”1

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told participants at the U.N. Ocean Conference on June 27 that “sustainable ocean management could help the ocean produce as much as six times more food and generate 40 times more renewable energy than it currently does.” (Getty Images/NurPhoto/Pedro Fiúza)

While many see ocean health and economic development as compatible goals, some question the underlying assumptions of a blue economy framework. In the academic journal Sustainability Science, researchers at Boğaziçi University in Turkey and the University of Cyprus said that advancing infinite economic growth (on land or the ocean) is harmful to the environment, unrealistic to achieve and will not lead to just and sustainable futures for local communities.2 (See Pro/Con.)

Financial returns, however, are hard to ignore. Ocean-based industries — including shipping, fisheries and tourism — generate about $2.5 trillion in global export value each year, according to the latest available data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. If the ocean were its own national economy, note experts, it would be the world's seventh largest.3

The ocean provides significant additional benefits. Besides absorbing about 30 percent of the planet's greenhouse gases and supplying at least 50 percent of the oxygen humans breathe, the ocean provides jobs, food and livelihoods to more than 3 billion people — a figure that is expected to rise given projected global population growth.4

Many look to the ocean's potential. In his opening remarks at the U.N. Ocean Conference held in June in Lisbon, Portugal, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said that “sustainable ocean management could help the ocean produce as much as six times more food and generate 40 times more renewable energy than it currently does.”5

Peter Thomson, the U.N. secretary-general's special envoy for the ocean, agrees. “There is no doubt that the sustainable blue economy is the future of humankind in terms of our sustenance,” he says. We need “to move from being hunter gatherers at sea (which we are currently doing) … to being farmers of the sea.” Thomson adds that the sea is also a “pharmaceutical frontier, with some 80 percent of the ocean's scientific properties [remaining] unknown.” And, he says, the kinetic action of tides, currents and winds is the future of energy, compared to the “fossil fuel nightmare that we've created.”

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For example, Simply Blue Group — a global startup company developing floating offshore wind farms — sees a bright future for turbines that can operate farther offshore and generate more clean energy. “We see this [as] an integral part of a just energy transition that allows for sustainability,” says Alana Duerr, director of U.S. projects for the company.

Profit vs. Protection

But experts also acknowledge the risks of further ocean development. The ocean's health is measurably in decline, adds Thomson, who cites habitat destruction and the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and ocean warming. Ocean acidification, when the water becomes more acidic due to greater carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, threatens the health and survival of coral reefs. These unique ecosystems are home to myriad species of fish and other aquatic life and protect coastlines from storm surge, among other benefits. Scientists say that half of all coral reefs have been lost since the 1950s.6

Human impacts “are rapidly degrading ocean resources,” including through unsustainable extraction of marine resources, pollution and the destruction of marine and coastal habitats, a World Bank report said. Attempts to overcome these challenges have been piecemeal, it stated.7

But demand for ocean resources continues to grow. The potential for deep seabed mining is particularly controversial. More than 30 exploratory contracts have already been given to private companies, often in partnership with governments, from the U.N.'s International Seabed Authority (ISA) — an intergovernmental agency charged with regulating this activity. Mining licenses are not yet being given out, but companies are still eyeing big profits. Environmentalists, meanwhile, are saying that potential damage to fragile ocean ecosystems needs significantly more study, and the ISA has been criticized for being too close to industry interests.8

“Both governance institutions and the conservation community are racing to understand the extent and impact of these emerging industries, which are venturing into increasingly remote areas of the ocean,” said Our Shared Seas, a data collection website created by CEA Consulting, a San Francisco-based firm.9

Ocean projects are capital-intensive and come with many risks, say business entrepreneurs, but, nonetheless, interest in the sector is growing substantially — not least because of promising profits. In the European Union alone, for example, the latest available figure for the blue economy's gross profits in 2019 was nearly 73 billion euros, or almost $82 billion at that time.10

But the degree to which businesses will embrace environmental protection remains uncertain. Ghislaine Llewellyn, deputy leader of Oceans Practice at the World Wildlife Fund — an international nonprofit focused on environmental preservation — acknowledges that private-sector finance “will be critical to affect the transition to a sustainable blue economy.” But she adds that “investors and governments are still overestimating the growth potential of a ‘business-as-usual’ blue economy and underestimating the risks.” Money from the public sector will also be crucial to help redirect private capital away from unsustainable activities, she says.

“Investment is needed to improve fishery practices, restore habitats and establish marine protected areas,” says Carlos M. Duarte, professor of marine science at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. These areas are set aside, in the ocean or waterways, to help restore ecosystems. The global target for these protected areas is 30 percent of the seas by 2030, the threshold many scientists say is required to ensure the long-term health of the planet, but “we want to get to 50 percent by 2050,” says Duarte.11 (See Short Feature.)

In 2020, over 100 economists and scientists released a report which found that, by protecting just 30 percent of the world's land and ocean, benefits would outweigh costs by a ratio of 5-to-1. Creating natural buffers to prevent high financial losses from coastal flooding is just one example.12

Indonesians plant mangrove tree seedlings on the Palu Bay Coast in June. Mangroves are highly productive marine ecosystems that serve as carbon sinks but are being degraded or destroyed by overdevelopment in coastal areas. (Getty Images/NurPhoto/Mohamad Hamzah)

Many policymakers have become interested in so-called blue carbon ecosystems, which are highly productive marine environments, such as mangroves and tidal marshes. These have received much attention for their ability to support local livelihoods, protect coastlines and sequester carbon, among other benefits. But such “high-quality projects remain scarce and are yet to be deployed at large scale,” said Carolin Leeshaa, natural capital and biodiversity global lead for KPMG International, a global accounting company.13

Issues of Inequality

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) — a group of 38 countries that promotes economic growth and world trade — asserts that promoting a sustainable ocean economy will reduce poverty in developing countries, since “ocean-based industries are important drivers of economic development” and represent “critical sources of employment and income.”

The OECD and experts in other organizations say, however, that to take advantage of these emerging opportunities, developing countries need access to the science and financing that they often lack. Experts say these countries are not benefiting, for example, from fast-growing sectors such as offshore wind farming.14

Developing countries are concerned that those who have money will come in and take over local resources, says Berchie Asiedu, associate professor at the University of Energy and Natural Resources in Ghana. “Marginalization, pollution, competition for space and other environmental impacts” are some of the biggest concerns, he says.

Many organizations are highlighting these inequities. A study jointly released in early 2021 by Duke University and Stockholm University found that the 100 largest companies in the ocean economy — such as those involved in offshore oil and gas extraction, seafood production, cruise tourism and container shipping — took 60 percent of total revenues generated.15

In his book, A Blue New Deal, Chris Armstrong, a professor of political theory at the University of Southampton in England, highlights inequalities in the ocean economy. “The Blue Growth narrative has often served as a code for more intensive exploitation of the ocean,” he wrote. “At its worst, the industrialization of the ocean economy would bring rewards to the haves rather than the have-nots and drive marine wildlife to the margins of the Anthropocene Ocean.”16

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Alternatively, advocates say a blue economy would wean economies off fossil fuels and toward more renewable energy sources, meet growing global food security needs, provide new sources of income for developing countries and ensure that marine ecosystems are better managed.

“Ocean economic growth can be compatible with regenerating marine ecosystems if it is done well and appropriately,” says Paul Holthus, president and CEO of the World Ocean Council, an industry alliance. “Many ocean companies from across a wide range of industries are working to go beyond reducing their environmental impacts to ensuring that they make a positive contribution to ocean health.”

Going toward either scenario, some say, may depend on whether companies take on ocean stewardship, or just focus on short-term profits.

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Background

Human Impacts

During the 20th century, “the scale of familiar uses of the ocean — for warfare, transportation and fishing — escalated enormously,” wrote Helen Rozwadowski, a professor of history and maritime studies at the University of Connecticut, in her book Vast Expanses: A History of the Oceans. Yet, many still viewed the seas as a last frontier that was timeless, untouchable and full of unlimited resources, she said.

As cultural fascination with the ocean grew, so did human activities in it — much of which had negative effects, such as:

• Factory trawlers — large industrial ships for fishing — were capturing huge hauls of fish by the mid-1950s.17

• By the 1960s, an estimated 80,000 whales were being killed annually, which led to an extended anti-whaling campaign by environmental advocacy groups such as Greenpeace.18

• By the early 1970s, famous explorers, such as French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, claimed that 30 percent to 50 percent of the ocean had been damaged by human activity in just 20 years.19

• Oil spills created catastrophic consequences. The marine environment off the English Channel took nearly 15 years to recover from the Torrey Canyon disaster in 1967, in which some 100,000 tons of crude oil spilled. (The number of oil spills hit an all-time high of nearly 120 in 1974, according to ITOPF, a London-based nonprofit that tracks oil spills and assists with recovery efforts).20

Reversing the Damage

As awareness of human effects on the ocean grew, international treaties were advanced in the next decades to help reverse the damage. These included:

• The London Convention (1975), which prevented the dumping of waste at sea.

• The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (also in 1975), which helped protect marine species.

• The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (1983), which prohibited oil and sewage discharges from ships into the ocean.21

In the United States, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act — initially passed in 1976 — helped the country rebuild and sustain dwindling fish stocks. The Canadian government, alternatively, put a moratorium on cod fishing in the Northwest Atlantic in the early 1990s due to overfishing. In Newfoundland and Labrador alone, some 30,000 people lost jobs; the moratorium is still in place.22

In the 1990s, public awareness of the impacts of global warming on the ocean grew, such as the melting of sea ice, increasing ocean acidification and the loss of corals.

Crude oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster washes ashore on Grand Terre Island, La., on June 7, 2010. The rig explosion created the largest oil spill to date. The number of oil spills has actually declined since hitting a peak in 1974. (Getty Images/Benjamin Lowy)

But reversing human damage has had mixed results.

An article in the journal Nature cited global progress in sustainable fishing and reducing habitat loss since the 1990s, but also outlined increasing pressures on marine life due to global warming and more fertilizers, plastics and chemicals going into the sea.23

King Abdullah University's Duarte — one of the paper's authors — says there has been a decrease of pollutants in the ocean, such as lead and gasoline. But he says that industry has introduced new chemicals, too. “It often takes two to three decades from the time that [these] pressures are removed to the time that recoveries are achieved,” he adds.

By the 2000s, shipping companies were reducing greenhouse gas emissions, oil spills occurred less frequently, more marine protected areas were established and monitoring of illegal fishing improved. Advocacy to protect fragile environments, such as the Central Arctic Ocean, ramped up, including an appeal by 2,000 scientists from 67 countries in 2012 for a moratorium on industrial fishing there.24

Mixed Messages

By the 2000s, business was booming on the ocean — both in traditional and emerging sectors. However, a new objective, called Goal 14, was added in 2015 to the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — a total of 17 internationally agreed upon targets to reduce poverty and protect the planet. Goal 14 aims to reduce marine pollution, restore ecosystems, end overfishing and conserve coastal areas, among other things.25

Essam Yassin Mohammed — former head of the blue economy team at the International Institute for Environment and Development, a London-based research organization — said that adding this goal to the SDGs was a historic development because it acknowledged the importance of marine ecosystems to the billions of people who rely on them and raised the ocean's profile among policymakers.26

But environmental risks continued to mount. Investments in ocean health became less certain after governments globally took on higher levels of debt following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. U.N. meetings to pass a legally binding treaty on protecting biodiversity in the high seas — vast areas of ocean waters beyond national jurisdiction — were delayed due to the pandemic and, once resumed, were unsuccessful. Critics cited a slow pace of negotiations and disagreements over managing high seas resources, among other issues.27

Meanwhile, over the past 20 years, nation states have pushed to extend their coastal zones with less support for sharing resources in the high seas. Some advocates worry that, absent any enforcement of global rules, the high seas remain a “Wild West,” where vested interests can exploit resources at will.28

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Current Situation

Limited Funding

After more than a decade of talks, the U.N.'s member states failed in late August to agree on a legally binding agreement to protect marine biodiversity on the high seas. Less than 1 percent of these seas are protected without a new treaty, said diplomats.

“We're disappointed that governments at the U.N. did not bring the High Seas Treaty over the finish line this week,” said The Nature Conservancy and other environmental groups in a statement. “Communities across the world are asking for decisive ocean action to protect marine life and safeguard the vital role the ocean plays for the climate, global food security and the overall health of our planet.”29

At the U.N. Ocean Conference in June, world leaders adopted a new political declaration to help protect the ocean from current and future threats. Called the Lisbon Declaration, it acknowledges “the global emergency” facing the ocean, while committing governments to, among other things, mitigate climate change impacts, reduce marine pollution, strengthen data collection and improve multi-stakeholder partnerships.30

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks on June 30 at the U.N. Ocean Conference in Lisbon, where world leaders committed to help protect the ocean from current and future threats by working to mitigate climate change impacts, reduce marine pollution, strengthen data collection and improve multi-stakeholder partnerships. (AFP/Getty Images/Ludovic Marin)

However, these goals are voluntary, and funding remains limited. The declaration comes as global debt is high and governments, especially in the developing world, have little leeway for new expenditures. Given responses to COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, many countries face other urgent priorities, such as keeping financial systems afloat or obtaining food and fuel in the wake of growing inflation.31

Of all the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, the one on “conserving and sustainably [using] the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development” — Goal 14 — has received the least support, Guterres said at the conference.32

Overseas development assistance from governments’ foreign aid budgets is one primary source of funding for ocean conservation initiatives. A 2021 OECD report stated that $1.6 billion was spent by the organization's 38 member countries on sustainable ocean activities in 2019, the last year analyzed. An additional $2.9 billion went to the ocean economy more broadly. While seemingly large, both figures together represent only 1.4 percent of the total overseas development assistance budget.33

Additional funding comes from philanthropies, the private sector and international development banks. Just over $25 billion was spent annually on Goal 14 as of late 2020, said Liu Zhenmin, the U.N.'s undersecretary-general for economic and social affairs. An estimated 8 percent of that total was contributed by the private sector, he said, which was “very limited compared to other [U.N.] goals.”34

While there is little consensus on the total funding needed to reach Goal 14 by 2030, one study estimates the need at more than $174 billion annually. Whatever the estimates, most experts agree there is a substantial shortfall. “Ocean conservation, research and sustainable development are alarmingly underfunded worldwide,” wrote Patricia Scotland, secretary-general of the British Commonwealth of Nations, which includes 56 countries.35

Companies and coalitions still made over 2,000 commitments at the U.N. Ocean Conference, although what is promised vs. what is delivered remains to be determined. Projects include addressing algae-based fertilizers, restoring coral reefs and developing tools to openly share and aggregate ocean data. Another big promise: Maersk, the world's largest container shipping company, announced plans to work with Chilean and European ports to transport cargo with net zero emissions by 2050.36

Meanwhile, Benj Sykes, vice president of Ørsted — a Danish multinational company that has won awards as the world's most sustainable energy company — said it is working on offshore wind power, while simultaneously planting sea grass, growing oysters and restoring salt marshes, among other biodiversity efforts. Sturla Henriksen, special advisor to the U.N.'s Global Compact Ocean Stewardship Coalition, emphasized the need to scale up similar solutions to meet U.N. goals. “We are way beyond philanthropy and altruism,” he said, “we have to make [these activities] commercially attractive.”37

Fishing Policies

This summer, fisheries, one of the most important industries in the blue economy, is high on the policy agenda. In late June, the Biden administration released a memorandum on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The memo criticizes, in particular, “distant water fishing vessels, which engage in industrial-scale fishing operations on the high seas” and directs federal agencies to work toward ending forced labor and other human rights abuses in the industry.38

Declining resources for coastal communities is also an ongoing human rights concern.

China, South Korea, Spain and Russia are among the countries that are fishing off Africa's coast and often use unsustainable methods that take large amounts of fish and unintended animal catch, says Asiedu at the University of Ghana. This is a major problem for fishing communities in Africa, he adds.

A large Chinese fishing boat waits for a license to fish off the coast of Zanzibar, Tanzania. China, South Korea, Spain and Russia are among the countries accused of using unsustainable methods that take large amounts of fish, a staple for local communities, off the coast of Africa. (Getty Images/In Pictures/Andrew Aitchison)

In places that face food insecurity — such as Ghana, the Maldives and Cambodia — fish make up more than half of a person's animal protein intake, says Katie Matthews, chief scientist for Oceana, a nonprofit conservation organization.

Also in June, after roughly two decades of negotiations, the World Trade Organization (WTO), which regulates international trade, reached a deal to, among other things, prohibit government subsidies to commercial entities engaged in IUU fishing and to impose more limits on high seas fishing. Such subsidies, which offer financial incentives to companies and are estimated at $35 billion per year, have long been criticized for encouraging overfishing and unsustainable practices. Researchers estimate that China, the European Union, the United States, South Korea and Japan contribute nearly 60 percent of these subsidies.39

While supporters heralded the WTO agreement as historic, others — such as Oceana — said the agreement relies on self-reporting, and its focus is on IUU fishing but not on eliminating harmful subsidies. More action is needed “to make governance more accountable by mandating better monitoring, availability and access to [fishing] information,” says Matthews.40

More positively, experts agree that marine life can recover quickly. Proper enforcement and sustainable management do matter, adds Matthews. She cites the example of the hake, a type of fish that is thriving under a “robust fisheries management plan” in places such as the North Sea in Europe but is the most “overexploited [fish] species in the Mediterranean.”

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Outlook

“A Lot of Pressure for the Needle to Move”

Looking ahead, experts indicate that geopolitical tensions may make it harder to advance a blue economy. “Regional disputes and geopolitical instabilities may impede the implementation of global and regional treaties and agreements, thereby affecting economic growth, the transfer of technologies and the implementation of frameworks for managing ocean use,” a 2021 U.N. ocean report said.41

The World Wildlife Fund's Llewellyn says that the recent U.N. Ocean Conference “provided great momentum,” but the “real test of success will come in the months ahead,” when U.N. member states will be called upon to ratify global treaties, including on pollution and protecting the biodiversity of the high seas. Upcoming negotiations that will also address ocean issues include a U.N. Climate Change Conference in November and a U.N. Biodiversity Conference in December.42

Environmentalists and policymakers still remain optimistic that the high seas treaty that failed in August can be finalized this year.

“There will be a lot of pressure for the needle to move in meaningful ways toward a sustainable blue economy,” says the U.N.'s Thomson. “We need to invest trillions of dollars [toward that goal], not billions,” he says.

Referring to the global call to set aside at least 30 percent of the seas for protection by 2030, King Abdullah University's Duarte says, “I think we are going to get there, and the pace over the past year makes me hopeful. I don't think it's so much a question of money, but of political will and to recognize the benefits of protecting the ocean.” One of the challenges, he adds, is that “most of the ocean action that is required is segregated across a broad range of policies, and there is no single framework that addresses the ocean as [a] whole.”

Meanwhile, environmental experts forecast that the effects of climate change — including ocean warming, sea level rise and coastal flooding — will worsen. A model developed by the World Wildlife Fund estimates that $8.4 trillion of assets and revenues are at risk from a “business-as-usual” approach in the coming 15 years due in part to climate change effects. Alternatively, said the report, more than $5 trillion of this could be saved with the adoption of a more sustainable pathway.43

Increasing international conflicts may well occur over what resources will be shared and what will be privatized on the high seas, particularly with respect to deep seabed mining. When the first mining contracts will be given by the U.N.'s International Seabed Authority is not certain, in part due to concerns raised about mining's environmental impacts.44

Blue economy advocates anticipate further innovations and partnerships across sectors in the years ahead. These include harnessing the renewable energy provided by offshore wind farms; continuing to decarbonize the shipping industry through use of hybrid electric power; using wetlands and mangroves as carbon sinks; farming seaweed and improving the sustainability of aquaculture.45

“Ultimately, we must make sure we are talking about a sustainable blue economy,” says Matt Rand, a senior director on marine conservation at The Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonpartisan policy nonprofit. “There's a lack of understanding [about] the fragility of the ocean,” he says. “You can't just use everything and expect for the ocean to continue to give natural benefits and capital.”

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Pro/Con

Is economic growth compatible with regenerating the ocean?

Pro Paul Holthus Founding President and CEO, World Ocean Council. Written for CQ Researcher, September 2022 Ocean economic growth can be compatible with regenerating marine ecosystems if it is done well and appropriately. Many ocean companies from across a wide range of industries are working to go beyond reducing their environmental impacts to ensuring that they make a positive contribution to ocean health. In a global, interconnected ocean, this often requires international efforts among many kinds of ocean uses. Seafood production has some of the best potential for linking business and biodiversity in the ocean. Shellfish and seaweed farms, with the right practices in the right places, can help restore marine ecosystems, while supporting economic development and food production in coastal communities. Sustainable fishing is designed to result in the replenishing and maintenance of fish stocks in local areas, which are essential to regenerating a healthy marine community. In the ocean energy world, the installation of infrastructure often provides habitat for enhanced biodiversity levels, e.g. through marine growth on the submerged portion of offshore oil rigs in otherwise sediment-dominated areas. More proactively, the installation of rocks around the base of offshore wind turbines to protect them from waves is being designed to best serve in restoring depleted oyster beds. Hundreds of kilometers of shoreline are “hardened” with manmade structures, i.e. breakwaters, jetties, wharves, etc. The shoreline construction industry is increasingly turning to the innovators who are providing materials and structures designed to promote the growth of local underwater ecosystems. Seagrass beds, tidal marshes and mangrove forests cover extensive portions of the coastline, but are rapidly being degraded and destroyed in many areas as coasts are developed. However, the value of “blue carbon” (carbon dioxide storage in the vegetation or soils of these habitats) has the potential to create a significant economic driver for the protection and restoration of these habitats through the value of their carbon drawdown potential — which is in the tens of million tons per year. Moving away from the coast, the overall ocean is Earth's largest carbon dioxide sink. This can be enhanced through a range of approaches. One of these is ocean nutrient fertilization, which has the potential to sequester between 0.1 to 1.0 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, while at the same time supporting the growth of food webs and fisheries. Another approach to improving ocean carbon sequestration is by supporting the recovery of large marine organisms, such as whales, with clear ecosystem regeneration outcomes.

Con Borja Nogué-Algueró Ph.D. Candidate, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), Research & Degrowth International. Written for CQ Researcher, September 2022 A growing economy entails increasing consumption of resources and human labor, which inevitably generates waste, such as greenhouse gases, and produces other environmental impacts, which deeply affect the ocean. A common way to measure economic growth is the gross domestic product (GDP), an annual indicator of all monetized activities that doesn't account for associated social and environmental costs. Without an annual compound growth rate of 2 to 3 percent of the GDP, capitalist economies risk becoming unstable and entering recession or crisis. Although 3 percent might seem small, an economy growing exponentially quickly runs to infinity, inevitably encountering the biophysical limits of a finite planet. Economic growth took off in industrialized countries during the 20th century, in what researchers dubbed the “Great Acceleration,” a process of massive socioenvironmental change that also encompassed the ocean. Sustainability scientists warn that this acceleration might have already transgressed several of the planetary boundaries identified as a safe operating space for humanity, and for marine systems in particular. The ocean is under increasing pressures from a growing global economy, of which high-income nations are disproportionately responsible, resulting in serious environmental impacts: rising sea surface temperature, acidification and habitat destruction. Although continued growth in rich nations isn't necessary for improving social progress, faced with the imperative to grow or collapse, international governance and financial institutions are promoting the blue economy/blue growth paradigm, which advocates an environmentally sustainable expansion and intensification of ocean industries. However, all these paradigms rest on the assumption that technological innovation and efficiency gains can decouple economic growth from its environmental impacts fast enough to avoid ecological collapse, a belief shown to lack empirical evidence. If we are to heed the calls from leading marine scientists to take urgent action to rebuild marine life, we need to abandon the currently dominant growth-obsessed economic paradigms and prioritize restoring marine and coastal ecosystems, while protecting marginalized and vulnerable communities whose livelihoods most directly depend on them, yet are increasingly squeezed by more productive sectors of the blue economy, such as coastal development and tourism. A regenerated ocean is not only incompatible with perpetual economic growth, but is crucial for the sake of humanity. As Rachel Carson forewarned: “It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist; the threat is rather to life itself.”

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Discussion Questions

Here are some issues to think about regarding ocean health:

• What is the blue economy? Why are some people skeptical about it?

• Some argue that sustainable ocean development is possible. How so? Do you agree?

• Demand for ocean resources is booming. Which industries have grown the most?

• What are some of the human activities in the 20th century that have damaged the ocean? To what extent have these activities been curbed?

• How is the international community working together to protect the ocean and its resources?

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Short Features

Marine Protected Areas Help Ocean Recovery, but at a Price

Many global leaders and scientists want to protect 30 percent of the ocean from human activities and damage by 2030. To help achieve this goal, they are trying to set aside more marine protected areas (MPAs). Research shows MPAs allow resilient but fragile ocean ecosystems to recover from human activity and climate change. Today, there are nearly 18,000 of these protected areas worldwide, covering about 11 million square miles, according to United Nations databases.1

However, MPAs often require closing waters to fishing and other extractive activities, which can adversely affect local, coastal communities.

Taholo Kami, head of a small consultancy company in Fiji called Kami Pasifiki, has been working on ocean policy for decades. “We see ourselves as guardians of the ocean and there are a lot more questions about [whether] protection under a global mandate is the same as what it should mean to Pacific people,” he says.

Fiji, an archipelago in the South Pacific, has locally managed marine areas, which are maintained by local coastal communities. Kami says that chiefs will put out “tribal taboos to preserve an important fishing ground. Often these were tied to something that happened in the village and, over time, it's become a conservation area.” Kami adds that, when done properly, these locally managed areas “are very effective, but they are small and community-based.”

There are more than 450 locally managed areas around Fiji today, and the model — which began in the late 1990s — has spread to other countries in the Pacific.2

MPAs are typically much larger and are often managed at the national or international level, but they are still under discussion in Fiji, Kami says. In Pacific forums, he says, communities are aware of the importance of conservation, but “they are also seeing … that many of these massive commitments are being made by some of the smallest island countries.”

Globally, about 8 percent of the ocean is within MPAs, according to the latest Protected Planet Report, a collaboration of the U.N. Environment Programme and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. “We were supposed to get to 10 percent by 2020, but we failed to do that,” says Peter Thomson, the U.N. secretary-general's special envoy for the ocean.3

Despite some setbacks, Matt Rand, a senior director of environmental conservation at The Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonpartisan policy nonprofit, still cites tremendous progress in recent years. In the 2000s, he says, “large-scale marine protection became a big global ocean strategy for preserving biodiversity and [helped] to keep the marine ecosystem resilient to the impacts of climate change.”

One of the first big MPAs was the Papahãnaumokuãkea Marine National Monument, which was established near Hawaii in 2006 by President George W. Bush at almost 140,000 square miles. Before this, Rand says, most marine protected areas were very small. President Barack Obama expanded the Papahãnaumokuãkea monument in 2016 to 582,578 square miles.4

The Papahãnaumokuãkea Marine National Monument, seen here in an aerial view, was established near Hawaii in 2006. Global leaders, activists and scientists are creating more marine protected areas to help hit an international target to protect 30 percent of the ocean from human activities and damage by 2030. (AFP/Getty Images/Saul Loeb)

Katie Matthews, chief scientist at the environmental advocacy nonprofit Oceana, says her organization has helped to create MPAs in Chile of more than 270,000 square miles, which represents about 20 percent of the country's ocean area. This includes “protections for fish biodiversity hotspots, such as the waters of Juan Fernández Archipelago and Desventuradas Islands, which are no longer subject to industrial fishing and other destructive activities,” she says.

Despite successes, some question how effective these sanctuaries are. “Although 71 percent of assessed MPAs have been successful in enhancing fish populations, the level of protection is often weak (94 percent allow fishing), and many areas are undermined by insufficient human and financial capacity,” said a 2020 article in the academic journal Nature. 5

Experts say that local communities may simply not have the resources to enforce rules or arrest poachers in their country's MPAs. The governance and funding of these protected areas must be sorted out, Thomson says.

“A rich country can afford to carry the cost of [protection] within their own waters,” he says. “How does a poor country fund that plus their school fees and medical bills?” Such countries, with large coastlines, may rely on income from fishing licenses. If fishing is closed off because that area is now within a protected area, he says, “there has to be something to take the place of that revenue.”

Several studies over the past decade have shown low levels of compliance with fishing restrictions in MPAs. Among other reasons, experts say that local communities often need coastal resources for their livelihoods or may not have been fully engaged in management plans.

Some nations are exploring innovative financial models to support local communities. In the Philippines, for example, an organization called Rare — which works on behavior change related to conservation — implemented a pilot project for 4,000 fishers and their families to learn about and access basic livelihood insurance. The program provides a social safety net to coastal communities, when needed. It is now being scaled up and replicated in seven other countries.6

While local communities are increasingly involved in protecting coastal waters, establishing protected areas in the high seas — ocean waters that are outside national jurisdiction — is more challenging. Very few of these waters are protected, despite making up roughly two-thirds of the ocean.7

But there are some notable successes, such as the high seas around Antarctica, which are protected by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, a coalition of nearly 40 countries. This area is home to the largest marine protected area in the world in the Ross Sea region.8

But according to an article in Time magazine, even preserving those seas has been difficult since China and Russia — both commission members — have blocked further protections that would restrict their commercial fishing operations in that area.9

— Zarrín Caldwell

[1] “Marine Protected Areas,” Protected Planet, accessed Aug. 23, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/bdehnjra; “The Drive to Protect 30% of the Ocean by 2030,” The Pew Charitable Trusts, Oct. 14, 2021, https://tinyurl.com/52tbr629; and “Marine Protected Area,” National Geographic, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/bdesyap8.

[2] “Ocean Protectors: How the Old Ways of Protecting the Ocean Are New Again in Fiji,” The World Bank, April 13, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/a65xpppf; Joseph Corcoran, Ed., “Fiji Locally-Managed Marine Area Network,” Equator Initiative Case Study Series, United Nations Development Programme, 2012, https://tinyurl.com/3n9djwjj.

[3] “Protected Planet Report 2020,” Protected Planet, May 2021, https://tinyurl.com/366uf2t5.

[4] “Global Ocean Legacy,” The Pew Charitable Trusts, accessed Aug. 23, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/4nz2zaep; “About Papahãnaumokuãkea,” Papahãnaumokuãkea Marine National Monument, March 14, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/mr4cu7ux.

[5] Carlos M. Duarte et al., “Rebuilding marine life,” Nature, April 1, 2020, p. 46, https://tinyurl.com/2tx9hv2t.

[6] “The ORRAA Action Report,” Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance, 2022, p. 24, https://tinyurl.com/43wwxmh2.

[7] “In 2017, ProtectedSeas released the first interactive map of High Seas protected areas and their regulations,” Protected Seas, accessed Aug. 23, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/2s3pkvbx.

[8] “About CCAMLR,” Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Aug. 4, 2021, https://tinyurl.com/5n74kv9s; “The 10 largest marine protected areas,” Geographical, June 23, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/bd96k7ue.

[9] Aryn Baker, “Why This Year Is Our Last, Best Chance for Saving the Oceans,” Time, July 9, 2020, https://tinyurl.com/bdhe65jx.

Bibliography

Books

Armstrong, Chris, A Blue New Deal: Why We Need a New Politics for the Ocean, Yale University Press, 2022. A professor of political theory at the University of Southampton in England explores urgent challenges related to environmental destruction of the seas and the inequality that exists in the ocean economy.

Barbier, Edward, Economics for a Fragile Planet: Rethinking Markets, Institutions and Governance, Cambridge University Press, 2022. A senior scholar with the School of Global Environmental Sustainability at Colorado State University outlines ways to rethink economic policies in ways more compatible with a sustainable future — on both land and sea.

Rozwadowski, Helen M., Vast Expanses: A History of the Oceans, Reaktion Books, 2018. The founder of the University of Connecticut's Maritime Studies Program provides an historical overview of the relationship between humans and the sea, from ancient to modern times.

Articles

“Blue Economy: oceans as the next great economic frontier,” United Nations, March 14, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/4htbnxht. A fact sheet highlights some of the benefits of a “blue economy” as well as some of the challenges on a global level.

“Collective action for the ocean,” ESG voices podcast series, KPMG, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/33h2x2ut. A podcast series transcript from KPMG — a global accounting company — interviews panelists on investments in blue carbon ecosystems.

“Guterres outlines four recommendations to help us all ‘Save Our Ocean,’” United Nations, June 27, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/yez23by6. Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, shares comments and remarks at the opening of a recent U.N. conference on the ocean.

Baker, Aryn, “Why This Year Is Our Last, Best Chance for Saving the Ocean,” Time, July 9, 2020, https://tinyurl.com/bdhe65jx. A journalist reviews the damage done to ocean life to date and ways to preserve fragile ecosystems.

Ertör, I., and M. Hadjimichael , “Editorial: Blue degrowth and the politics of the sea: rethinking the blue economy,” Sustainability Science, Springer, Dec. 23, 2019, https://tinyurl.com/27zr9ynn. Two professors at universities in Turkey and Cyprus question the underlying — and problematic — assumptions behind seeing the ocean as an endless economic frontier.

Okafor-Yarwood, Ifesinachi, “Review of nine African ‘blue economy’ projects shows what works and what doesn't,” The Conversation, Aug. 11, 2020, https://tinyurl.com/2p8uydwd. A lecturer at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland summarizes some of the main factors that led to successful, or unsuccessful, blue economy projects.

Spalding, Mark J., “Measuring Sustainable Ocean Economy Investing,” Wilson Center, Dec. 17, 2021, https://tinyurl.com/43eujsks. The president of the Ocean Foundation, an environmental nonprofit, looks at the externalities created by ocean-based industries and offers suggestions for investments to promote more sustainable ecosystems.

Reports

“Development Co-operation for a Sustainable Ocean Economy 2021,” Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, June 2021, https://tinyurl.com/5rzrfeka An intergovernmental organization report analyzes the funding that developing countries receive to support sustainable ocean economies.

“In Brief to The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2022: Towards Blue Transformation,” The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/bde73hya. A U.N. report provides a global overview of the state of world fisheries production, employment, aquaculture and its adaptations to climate change.

“The ORRAA Action Report,” Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance, 2021-2022, https://tinyurl.com/43wwxmh2. A report by a multi-sector collaboration reviews innovative investment mechanisms that are protecting vs. exploiting the natural capital of the ocean and coastal communities.

“Transformations for a Sustainable Ocean Economy: A Vision for Protection, Production and Prosperity,” High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/2r8fsbcr. A collective framework prepared by 14 heads of state and government assesses the transformations needed to reach the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals related to both developing and conserving ocean resources.

Duarte, Carlos M., et al., “Rebuilding Marine Life,” Nature, April 1, 2020, https://tinyurl.com/2tx9hv2t. Fifteen marine scholars from eight countries investigate recoveries of marine life to date and possible economic returns from targeted investments in the ocean.

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The Next Step

Climate Change and the Oceans

Mooney, Chris, “Report of an ancient methane release raises questions for our climate future,” The Washington Post, Aug. 24, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/w4kx3nwf. New research on how ancient methane stored in the deep seafloor off Africa breaks free could help scientists prepare for the future of the oceans.

Sima, J. Richard, “Melting Sea Ice May Mean the End of Driftwood in Iceland,” Eos, Aug. 25, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/yurmew6f. Driftwood that floats from Siberia to Iceland, which Vikings used to build their homes in the 9th century, will no longer make the journey by 2060.

Adam, Vaughan, “Can we beat climate change by geoengineering the oceans?” New Scientist, June 29, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/mryvzm9a. Chemically altering the seas could help suck carbon out of the atmosphere, but the strategy is risky.

Fishing Policies

“Shark impact on fishing communities,” University of Leeds, Aug. 24, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/2p8uubsu. An effort to save an endangered species of sharks near the Maldives has led to a boom in the population, which is now attacking fishermen and their catches.

Killer, Ed, “Do we love the Florida Keys too much? Rule changes would limit recreation to protect reefs,” TCPalm, Aug. 25, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/mr2u9w76. New regulations proposed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration seek to restrict some recreational activities and expand marine protections for the Florida Keys, which could affect the fishing industry.

Monti, Dave, “The Fishing Report: NOAA Fisheries webinars seek input from anglers; and what's biting in RI,” The Providence Journal, Aug. 26, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/2p98dazm. A government agency is asking the recreational fishing community for input on changes to its national saltwater fishing policies.

Marine Protected Areas

“Greenpeace plans ‘boulder barrier’ to disrupt fishing in Cornish marine protected area,” Sky News, Aug. 15, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/y3tyr9np. Activists are planning to drop boulders into the sea off the coast of the United Kingdom to block industrial vessels from fishing in a marine protected area.

Gokkon, Basten, “Indonesia announces plan to protect 10% of its seas by 2030, and 30% by 2045,” Mongabay, Aug. 26, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/e4jvf6t6. Indonesia plans to expand protection of its seas to cover an area nearly the size of Germany by 2030 — and then tripling it by 2045.

Ionescu, Andrei, “Fishing activities spiking near marine protected areas,” Earth.com, Aug. 3, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/2s3f8373. To skirt geographical restrictions, boaters often cluster around the edges of marine protected areas off the coast of California, a new study finds.

Ocean Resources

“Deep sea mining could provide materials to help us quit fossil fuels — but at a cost,” NPR, Aug. 5, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/2u8nppca. Building materials to fight climate change will require metal, and deep-sea mining could extract much of that material from the ocean floor.

“Two-year countdown for deep seabed mining,” Phys.org, Aug. 26, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/yf672x87. The island nation of Nauru triggered a treaty provision known as the “two-year rule” that requires the International Seabed Authority, the intergovernmental agency that oversees such activities, to finalize and adopt regulations for deep seabed mining within 24 months.

Genter, Ethan, “Lobstermen fear pogie shutdown will increase bait prices,” Bangor Daily News, Aug. 26, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/3kvtj92t. The Maine Department of Marine Resources has decided to shut down fishing for menhaden early this season for fear that the state would go over its allotted catch limit.

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Contacts

Friends of Ocean Action
weforum.org/friends-of-ocean-action
A coalition affiliated with the World Economic Forum of over 70 ocean leaders with a mission to assist the international community to help conserve and sustainably develop the ocean.

High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy
10 G St., N.E., Suite 800, Washington, DC 20002
202-729-7600
oceanpanel.org
A panel of 16 heads of state and government with a mission to sustainably manage oceans under national jurisdiction.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Rue Mauverney 28, 1196 Gland, Switzerland
+41-22-999-0000
iucn.org
A global membership organization of government and civil society that advances sustainable development.

Oceana
1025 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite #200, Washington, DC 20036
202-833-3900
oceana.org
An organization that advocates to protect and restore the oceans on a global scale.

The Pew Charitable Trusts
901 E St., N.W., Washington, DC 20004
202-552-2000
pewtrusts.org
A nonpartisan nonprofit that produces research and advocates for various ocean conservation issues, among other topics.

United Nations Global Compact
685 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017
212-907-1301
www.unglobalcompact.org
A coalition of global companies committed to responsible business practices aligned with U.N. principles and sustainable development goals.

World Ocean Council
3035 Hibiscus Drive, Suite 1, Honolulu, Hawaii 96815
1-808-277-9008
; oceancouncil.org. A business alliance that brings industry leaders together to promote sustainable ocean development.

World Wildlife Fund
1250 24th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20037
202-293-4800
worldwildlife.org
A U.S. public charity that aims to use sound science to conserve nature and reduce pressing threats to biodiversity on both land and sea.

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Footnotes

[1] “What is the Blue Economy?” The World Bank, June 6, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/2ft6xybw/.

[2] I. Ertör and M. Hadjimichael, “Editorial: Blue degrowth and the politics of the sea: rethinking the blue economy,” Sustainability Science, 2020, https://tinyurl.com/53me4p3h.

[3] “Ocean economy offers a $2.5 trillion export opportunity: UNCTAD report,” U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, Oct. 26, 2021, https://tinyurl.com/f46b9cw3.

[4] “Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources,” Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/mrx5en9e; “How much oxygen comes from the ocean?” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Feb. 26, 2021, https://tinyurl.com/3pm4ne2h.

[5] “Guterres outlines four recommendations to help us all ‘Save Our Ocean,” U.N. News, June 27, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/2s3je6vb.

[6] Corryn Wetzel, “The Planet Has Lost Half of Its Coral Reefs Since 1950,” Smithsonian Magazine, Sept. 17, 2021, https://tinyurl.com/yja2drhw.

[7] “The Potential of the Blue Economy: Increasing Long-term Benefits of the Sustainable Use of Marine Resources for Small Island Developing States and Coastal Least Developed Countries,” World Bank Group and United Nations, 2017, pp. 10–11, https://tinyurl.com/mvupcz7x.

[8] Jean-Baptiste Jouffray et al., “The Blue Acceleration: The Trajectory of Human Expansion into the Ocean,” One Earth, Jan. 24, 2020, pp. 43–54, https://tinyurl.com/u44fj44x; Zarrín Caldwell, “Governing the Seas,” CQ Researcher, June 10, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/mrxjcvyw.

[9] “Threats: Industrial Impacts,” Our Shared Seas, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/mvrrhjhu.

[10] Anna M. Addamo et al., “The EU blue economy report 2022,” European Commission, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/mrdw82db.

[11] “The Drive to Protect 30% of the Ocean by 2030,” The Pew Charitable Trusts, Oct. 14, 2021, https://tinyurl.com/bd3t9dzz.

[12] “Economic Benefits of Protecting 30% of Planet's Land and Ocean Outweigh the Costs at Least 5-to-1,” press release, National Geographic and WYSS Campaign for Nature, July 8, 2020, https://tinyurl.com/5n6kujzc.

[13] “Collective action for the ocean,” ESG voices podcast series, KPMG, 2022, p. 3, https://tinyurl.com/3fkhwhbj.

[14] “OECD work in support of a sustainable ocean,” Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, June 2020, p. 17, https://tinyurl.com/4pve5fsa.

[15] J. Virdin et al., “The Ocean 100: Transnational corporations in the ocean economy,” Science Advances, Jan. 13, 2021, https://tinyurl.com/bdfbukfa.

[16] Chris Armstrong, A Blue New Deal: Why We Need a New Politics for the Ocean (2022), p. 200.

[17] Helen M. Rozwadowski, Vast Expanses: A History of the Oceans (2018), pp. 151–160.

[18] Asterios Tsioumanis, “The Rising Pressures on Ocean Governance,” International Institute for Sustainable Development, June 2021, p. 3, https://tinyurl.com/ywctkmpf; Willie Mackenzie, “A brief history of commercial whaling and Greenpeace,” Greenpeace, Sept. 10, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/36e9yf33.

[19] Jacques Cousteau, “Our Oceans Are Dying,” The New York Times, Nov. 14, 1971, https://tinyurl.com/42jvkexn.

[20] Bethan Bell and Mario Cacciottolo, “Torrey Canyon oil spill: The day the sea turned black,” BBC News, March 17, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/bdh8cdu6; “Oil Tanker Spill Statistics 2021,” ITOPF, 2021, https://tinyurl.com/3xyshy66.

[21] “Ocean Governance Summaries,” The World Bank, March 2021, https://tinyurl.com/2s42c7d8.

[22] “Laws and Policies: Magnuson-Stevens Act,” National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration, accessed Aug. 19, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/yc8xtt52; David Berry, “Cod Moratorium of 1992,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, Aug. 6, 2020, https://tinyurl.com/yckjv4pd; and Ryan Cooke, “Fish still missing, traditions extinct 30 years after N.L. cod moratorium,” CBC News, July 2, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/5n8sy8zp.

[23] Carlos M. Duarte et al., “Rebuilding marine life,” Nature, April 16, 2021, p. 40, https://tinyurl.com/bdd2byca.

[24] Alexander Besant, “Scientists call for Arctic fishing moratorium,” The World, April 24, 2012, https://tinyurl.com/nk59tc8k; Eilís Quinn, “Central Arctic Ocean fishing moratorium comes into effect,” The Barents Observer, June 28, 2021, https://tinyurl.com/2eky5r9j.

[25] “14 Life Below Water,” The Global Goals, accessed Aug. 19, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/4mmp3swn.

[26] “Understanding the SDGs: the importance of Goal 14,” International Institute for Environment and Development, Sept. 7, 2015, https://tinyurl.com/yc3mt76a.

[27] Elizabeth Fitt, “Fourth round of U.N. talks fail to finalize a treaty to manage the high seas,” Mongabay, March 21, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/3kkjpzsb; Karen McVeigh, “UN ocean treaty summit collapses as states accused of dragging out talks,” The Guardian, March 21, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/3d5dckfm.

[28] Caldwell, op. cit.

[29] “Nations Fail to Reach Deal on UN Treaty to Protect Sea Life,” The Associated Press, VOA, Aug. 27, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/4pdh79st; “Latest round of UN High Seas Treaty talks ends without resolution in New York City,” news release, The Nature Conservancy, Aug. 27, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/fkxu4vb8.

[30] “Our ocean, our future, our responsibility,” Lisbon Declaration, United Nations, May 25, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/yc8mzhd3; “World Leaders Pledge Greater Action to Save Oceans from Existing, Future Threats, Adopting Sweeping Political Declaration as Lisbon Conference Concludes,” press release, United Nations, July 1, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/5cu7e2b5.

[31] Elaine Kurtenbach, “Sri Lanka's crisis rings alarm for other troubled economies,” The Associated Press, July 8, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/37wnz7ma.

[32] “Guterres outlines,” op. cit.; “Goal 14,” op. cit.

[33] “Development Co-operation for a Sustainable Ocean Economy 2021,” Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, June 2021, pp. 4-6, https://tinyurl.com/hhyprnws.

[34] Liu Zhenmin, “Opening Remarks Webinar on Investing in SDG 14,” United Nations, Nov. 10, 2020, https://tinyurl.com/4ase95cm.

[35] Despina F. Johansen and Rolf A. Vestvik, “The cost of saving our ocean — estimating the funding gap of sustainable development goal 14,” Marine Policy, February 2020, https://tinyurl.com/5n88uwjt; Patricia Scotland, “Why we need to tackle the ocean funding crisis,” World Ocean Initiative, Feb. 24, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/563jd9fx.

[36] “UN Ocean Conference,” United Nations, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/ytvjtzaz; “Private Sector Partnerships Key to Building Ocean Economy of Small Island Nations,” United Nations, accessed Aug. 19, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/mr37aehw.

[37] “Private sector ocean action: Radical collaboration for people, nature and climate,” United Nations, June 27, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/bdcmyn2v; “Join the world's most sustainable energy company in taking climate action,” Ørsted, accessed Aug. 19, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/jh4mb5zj.

[38] “Memorandum on Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Associated Labor Abuses,” The White House, June 27, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/yc8c8kwh.

[39] Alice Tipping and Tristan Irschlinger, “WTO Members Clinch a Deal on Fisheries Subsidies,” International Institute for Sustainable Development, June 17, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/2p8ewwua; U. Rashid Sumaila et al., “Updated estimates and analysis of global fisheries subsidies,” Marine Policy, November 2019, https://tinyurl.com/b4evhju2.

[40] Daniel Skerritt, “The WTO agreement saves face, but does it save fish?” Oceana, June 17, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/mut3br8d.

[41] “World Ocean Assessment 11, Chapter 01, Overall summary,” United Nations, April 2021, p. 7, https://tinyurl.com/2s3fu8kr.

[42] “UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15),” U.N. Environment Programme, https://tinyurl.com/4p4j7kv9; COP27, United Nations, 2022, https://tinyurl.com/2p8te8k8.

[43] “Navigating Ocean Risk — Value at Risk in the Global Blue Economy,” The World Wildlife Fund and Metabolic, Oct. 14, 2021, pp. 6–8, https://tinyurl.com/5n8u3yt5.

[44] Caldwell, op. cit.

[45] Aryn Baker, “Why This Year Is Our Last, Best Chance for Saving the Oceans,” Time, July 9, 2020, https://tinyurl.com/22n4xc2z.

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About the Author

Zarrín Caldwell is an Arizona-based freelance writer. She has written for print and online publications on U.S. foreign policy, global issues and international development. She has also worked as a contractor for the U.S. Department of State and holds a master's degree in public and international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh. Her most recent CQ Researcher report was on ocean governance.

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