On January 17th, a new global treaty enters into force that finally allows countries to create marine protected areas in the high seas, which are parts of the ocean that fall outside the control of any single nation.

Formally known as the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, and commonly called the High Seas Treaty, it establishes a long-missing legal framework for protecting these waters, which make up roughly 64% of the world’s ocean.

This matters because even though the international community has committed to protecting 30% of the world’s ocean as MPAs by 2030, today less than 8% have some form of protection, and less than 3% is fully protected, meaning no industrial fishing, with fewer than five years to reach the 30x30 target.

Sea Shepherd Global celebrates this tremendous achievement, because until now it was effectively impossible to establish marine protected areas across the vast expanse of the high seas, which cover roughly two-thirds of the ocean.

Antarctica offers the only real precedent for protecting the high seas, highlighting both what is possible and what can go wrong.

Under the Antarctic Treaty System and the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), countries have been able to create marine protected areas in Antarctic waters, but only by unanimous agreement among member states.

That legal authority led to the creation of the Ross Sea Region marine protected area in 2016—the largest MPA in the world—but it has also stalled efforts to protect the Antarctic Peninsula. Objections from just two of CCAMLR’s twenty-seven member states, the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation, have blocked progress for years.

Sea Shepherd’s vessel Allankay will soon depart for the Antarctic to shine a spotlight on the destructive – but still legal – krill fishery operating in the proposed Antarctic Peninsula protected area.

Regional fisheries bodies—groups of countries that manage specific fisheries such as tuna—have long been able to close certain areas to fishing.

But these closures aren’t the same as creating comprehensive marine protected areas, and enforcement depends on flag states: the countries where vessels are registered, which often retain veto power over conservation measures.

The failure of this system is clear.

When Sea Shepherd shadowed the Pacific squid fleet in 2021, we documented 29 vessels—24 of which had past convictions for illegal fishing, faced allegations of labor abuse, or were operating “dark” with their tracking systems switched off.

Despite this, not a single vessel was placed on the South Pacific regional fisheries blacklist, and none appear there today.

Repeated attempts to list these vessels have been blocked by objections from the People’s Republic of China.

One of the treaty’s most important features is its decision-making process.

While decisions by consensus will be sought, the agreement allows decisions to pass by qualified majority voting, breaking the pattern of one or two countries blocking protection for everyone else.

For Sea Shepherd, this creates real hope for strong conservation measures, but enforcement remains a serious concern.

There is no United Nations Navy or international ocean police force to enforce these rules.

In practice, responsibility will continue to rest largely with flag states, which remain the only authorities both legally and logistically capable of enforcing most rules on their ships sailing in the high seas.

Where governments fail, civil society must help fill the gap, from companies providing vessel-tracking technologies to NGOs like Sea Shepherd that directly intervene to enforce the law.

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing remains a major challenge even in national waters with established regulatory systems.

Over the past decade, Sea Shepherd has worked with partner governments across Africa to help arrest 101 vessels engaged in illegal fishing.

On the high seas, the challenge of securing political will and funding for enforcement will be even greater.

Yet this does not diminish the significance of the High Seas Treaty.

For the first time, a global legal framework exists to create true no-take marine reserves beyond national borders.

The greatest challenge will be ensuring these reserves actually protect the ocean, rather than becoming paper parks existing only in name.