High Seas Treaty in Force

Most of the ocean lies beyond any nation’s borders. These international waters, known as the high seas, have long been governed by patchwork rules that made enforcement difficult and accountability rare.

A new international instrument is designed to change that. 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 (BBNJ Agreement) was adopted on 19 June 2023 and entered into force on 17 January 2026. The agreement sets shared standards for how countries manage and protect waters beyond national jurisdiction, including requirements for environmental review and clearer pathways to conservation measures.

For Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, this matters because our crews have spent decades operating where oversight is weakest. We have documented illegal fishing, destructive gear, and vessels exploiting legal gray zones just outside sovereign waters, where enforcement has historically broken down. Until now, much of that work depended on exposure rather than consequence.

The agreement does not alter Sea Shepherd’s mission or methods at sea. It changes how that work can be used. Clearer international rules mean evidence gathered during operations is more relevant to port states, regulators, and governments that choose to enforce them.

What changes now

This also affects how current operations are handled. As more countries adopt the agreement, activities on the high seas are less likely to disappear once a vessel leaves the scene. Actions taken offshore increasingly follow vessels back to port, markets, and flag states.

The High Seas Biodiversity Treaty, as it is also known, is not enforcement by itself. But it narrows the gap between what happens at sea and what can be acted on legally. That shift supports a principle Sea Shepherd has long upheld: distance from shore should not equal immunity from accountability.