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To celebrate #WorldStatisticsDay2020 here's a thread of facts and figures about the #HighSeas. :
The high seas are the waters beyond any country’s national jurisdiction, they make up 64% of the entire ocean, 45% of the total surface of the Earth -and 95% of its volume!
The high seas are the waters beyond any country’s national jurisdiction, they make up 64% of the entire ocean, 45% of the total surface of the Earth -and 95% of its volume!
Critically, the open ocean provides an underappreciated $8000Bn a year in ecosystem services: https://www.grida.no/resources/7445
At least half of Earth’s oxygen comes from the ocean. Prochlorococcus, is the smallest photosynthetic organism on Earth, it produces up to 20% of the oxygen in our entire biosphere. More than all of the tropical rainforests on land combined.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ocean-oxygen.html
Between the 1950s and 2006, catch from the high seas grew from <2 to 10 million tonnes. But, globally, stocks fished within biologically sustainable levels has exhibited a decreasing trend, from 90.0% in 1974 to 66.9% in 2015.
Up to 54% of high seas fishing would be unprofitable without taxpayer subsidy. Furthermore exploited labour (AKA human rights abuses) and unreported fishing ( #IUU) may explain how other large vessels afford to fish in international waters.https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/06/high-seas-fishing-subsidies-oceans-science/
The Ocean-climate nexus provide a myriad of worrying figures: the ocean absorbs 90% of excess heat and 1/4 of the CO2 produced by humankind. See the @IPCC_CH's report on ocean and the cryosphere for more: https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/
#SROCC
But it's not just fishing and climate change that are impacting the high seas -more and more activities such as seabed mining, geo-engineering, and aquaculture are looking to the high seas.
To give the ocean resilience, many scientists, NGOs and now countries are supporting #30x30 -an initiative to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030, which now has support from over 30 States.#Love30x30
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-creates-global-alliance-to-help-protect-the-worlds-ocean
Nevertheless only 2,738,898 km2 / 1.3% of the high seas are designated as a marine protected area, with less than 1% highly or fully protected and implemented.https://mpatlas.org/countries/HS
The @UN
have been discussing a new Treaty to protect Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction for almost 20 years.With one final session remaining, there is hope that humanity can protect its greatest global commons.
Follow @HighSeasAllianc & #OneOceanOnePlanet for more.
