The High Seas: Is There Room For
Wilderness?
Maxine McCloskey
Abstract—Water is the basic stuff of this planet. No life can exist
without it. In fact, life originated in the marine environment, most
likely in the cells of bacteria in deep sea hydrothermal vents. It is
essential that the world’s people pay attention to the oceans, respect
them, and protect them from despoliation. We should be good
stewards of land, air, and water for our own survival and for the
future of the Earth and all life on it.
To review some basic superlatives about the marine environment, it should be noted that approximately 70 percent
of the Earth’s surface is covered by salt water. This planet
should be named “Oceanus” rather than “Earth.” Scientists
tell us that not only did life originate in the deep, but that
more species of life occur in the oceans than on land, and also
that marine biomass “...might rival or exceed that of all
surface life” (Broad 1997).
The deepest places on this planet are the ocean trenches.
The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench (east of the
Philippines) is the deepest at 36,150 feet (11,022 m) and
stretches for 1,550 miles (2,500 km). It is 20 percent deeper
than Mount Everest is high. There are nine trenches over
21,965 feet (6,700 m) deep. The Aleutian Trench in the North
Pacific is the longest. The trenches can be considered to be
inverted mountains like we know and love on land. The
lengths of underwater marine mountain chains also exceed
those on land. There a total of 39,744 nautical miles (75,600
km) of ridges and rises that encircle the globe.
I mention these few facts to give a better feel for the
enormity of the marine environment. I hope to stimulate
your interest in and your acceptance of the notion that
special, as well as representative, areas in the oceans merit
protection under some kind of international system. The
long-range future of life on this planet requires it.
Marine Attributes ________________
Geographic, physical, and biological features of the high
seas grip our interest. Chemosynthetic life flourishes on the
deep sea-floor environment of total darkness, incredible
pressure, and extreme cold, but with astounding heat gushing up from hydrothermal vents. Vulcanism spews forth red-
In: Watson, Alan E.; Aplet, Greg H.; Hendee, John C., comps. 2000.
Personal, societal, and ecological values of wilderness: Sixth World Wilderness Congress proceedings on research, management, and allocation, volume II;
1998 October 24–29; Bangalore, India. Proc. RMRS-P-14. Ogden, UT: U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
Maxine McCloskey is Leader, IUCN (World Conservation Union), Marine
Section of Protected Areas Commission’s High Seas Project, 5101 Westbard
Ave., Bethesda, MD 20816, U.S.A., e-mail: Mmcclos336@aol.com.
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hot magma that wells up from deep within the Earth’s crust,
creating new earth and rich mineral deposits. Various
forms of thermophilic bacteria thrive in the abyss.
For thousands of years of human history, the seas have
been used for transportation. Not many years ago the high
seas, especially the midwaters and the seafloor, were considered to be biological deserts because practically nothing was
known about them. This is part of the reason that it may
have seemed acceptable in the past to dump refuse and
toxins into the oceans. Besides, anything dumped or spilled
was quickly out of sight. Now we know that the high seas,
clear down to and under the seafloor, support mysterious
and bizarre life forms, including gelatinous fish, giant clams,
shrimp, and tube worms. Many of these creatures are bioluminescent. It is a whole new world waiting for discovery and
research.
Here are a few examples of the kinds of marine features on
the seabed, in the water column, or at the surface of the high
seas that merit protected status:
• Places of vast plankton blooms or vast swarms of krill
• Sargassum beds and mats that are habitats for migrating sea turtles and eels
• Calving and feeding grounds of great whales
• Nursery areas of great and small whales and other
marine mammals
• Routes of highly migratory species
• Critical areas for significant pelagic fish species
• Geological features of unusual scientific interest, such
as at current convergence zones
• Tectonic rifts, geothermal vents, volcanoes, ridge crests,
and deep trenches
• Seamounts and guyots that support rich biological communities
• Deep-water corals
• Areas of unique biological concentrations
• Areas of endemism
• Essential habitats of threatened or endangered species
• Edges of ice packs
• Representative areas
• Archaeological and cultural features
Threats ________________________
This watery world, despite its vastness, is under threat
from many forms of human activity. The most serious and
immediate threat to retaining viable biodiversity comes
from overfishing and the use of destructive fishing methods.
Burgeoning human populations have increased the demand
for fish. Inadequately regulated or enforced fisheries have
caused many fish populations to crash (75 percent are in or
are verging on a state of collapse). This generation and those
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of the future are deprived of those benefits of the sea, and
biodiversity is impoverished.
Who could have predicted that the incredible populations
of cod (Gadus morhua) in the northwest Atlantic Ocean
would become commercially extinct? They are. This seems to
be the same fate of the orange roughy (Hoplosthethus atlanticus) and the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides)
in Southern Ocean waters—both species being hunted voraciously. Some shark and billfish populations are severely
reduced, as are populations of the enormous bluefin tunas.
Seabirds and sea turtles are also severely impacted by
commercial fishing.
Those animals at the top of the marine food chain succumbed quickly to intense hunting pressures, driving some
species to biological extinction, for example: the Biscayne
right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) and Steller’s sea cow
(Hydrodamalis gigas). Most other populations of great whales
were so severely reduced by hunting while under mismanagement by the International Whaling Commission that
after years of protection some of them have barely begun to
recover. The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus)—the largest animal to have ever lived on earth—is just one example.
Destructive fishing practices, like factory trawlers that
scrape the seafloor, purse seines for catching tuna that have
also caught hundreds of thousands of dolphins in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, and fine filament driftnets that are
practically invisible to all marine life and can be 30 miles
long (48 km), contribute mightily to severe reduction of
biomass and biodiversity in marine waters. Bycatch is another major problem because juveniles of the target species,
other fish species, diving seabirds, marine mammals, and
sea turtles are all victims in the rush to mine the seas of their
living bounty.
There is a research project underway to test the feasibility
of injecting into the deep seabed millions of tons of carbon
dioxide (CO2) that would be captured from the flue gases of
coal-fired plants. This process has been proposed as a mitigation option for the amelioration of global warming thought
to be associated with increasing atmospheric concentrations
of CO2 (GESAMP 1997). It is presently estimated that
under-sea storage would take 200 years before the CO2 is
fully absorbed by the ocean.
When mining of seabed deposits of metaliferous ores
begins, the techniques now known will totally disrupt the
seabed. Hydrocarbon extraction is already underway. Ocean
dumping of refuse and toxic substances, either deliberately
or by accident, continues even though the International
Maritime Organization has drawn up regulations to control
it. Sunken nuclear ships are leaking, and there is great
interest in taking bacteria and other organisms from the
hydrothermal vents for industry and pharmaceuticals.
Protected Areas on the
High Seas ______________________
Just as there are systems of protected areas on land to
ensure that special geographic, biotic, and historic features
continue, similar systems can protect special features of the
marine environment.
Many coastal nations have established Marine Protected
Areas within their waters of national jurisdiction, up to the
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limit of the Exclusive Economic Zone (usually 200 nautical
miles from shore). The number of reserves is at least 1,300
worldwide, including 15 in the central Indian Ocean (Earle
1995). Most of these marine reserves are located in the near
coastal waters. Only a few are located any distance from land.
Australia is studying a proposal to protect a group of
seamounts south of Tasmania, which could be Australia’s
first deep-sea marine protected area. Canada has selected
two new pilot Marine Protected Areas off its Pacific Coast:
Endeavour Hot Vents, 150 miles (240 km) southwest of
Vancouver Island, and Bowie Seamount 108 miles (180 km)
west of the Queen Charlotte Islands (Fisheries and Oceans
Canada 1998).
Attention is only now being paid to the high seas, those
marine areas beyond national jurisdiction, beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone. Common sense recognizes the attributes that deserve protection within a nation’s Exclusive
Economic Zone can also occur on the high-seas side of that
invisible boundary of 200 nautical miles.
I am not suggesting that protection be accorded to all the
high seas, only those special areas that are or could be under
threat or that contain outstanding natural features. Certain
fish stocks, for example, are in desparate need of protection
of the critical habitats directly related to the welfare and
survival of the species, such as spawning areas, nurseries,
and safe places for juveniles. These would be no-take zones,
where fishing is not allowed and the habitat is protected
from despoilment. Some coastal states have established
such no-take zones. Their laws and regulations should be
rigorously enforced. Similar systems should be established
on the high seas where fishing pressures are extreme to
ensure the continuation of the stock and thereby provide for
the continuation of the industry.
The Marine Section of the IUCN’s (World Conservation
Union) World Commission on Protected Areas set up a
special working group to advance the concept of protected
areas in the high seas. I was appointed to lead the effort. The
advisory committee recommended that the priority features
for consideration should be seamounts, hydrothermal vents,
and black smokers. The idea was to identify some specific
sites that would merit careful scientific study to document
the natural values and to identify the threats to those sites.
These features were selected because of the extreme fishing
pressure on seamounts (seamounts are extraordinarily rich
in species) and because of the potential for exploitation of the
mineral and biological resources of the vents.
Wilderness _____________________
Wilderness has a role in the marine environment. Definitions of wilderness on land usually rely on the absence of
evidence of human intrusion, primarily roads. In the threedimensional marine environment, wilderness could be defined as marine space without evidence of human activity. If
large-scale industrial use begins, and if destructive fishing
practices continue, the time will come when there will be
little ocean space or biodiversity that is not suffering from
human impact. Designating significant areas as wilderness
follows the precautionary principle.
Yes, there is not only room for marine wilderness, there is
need for it. Wilderness serves as a control by which the
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condition of other similar features that are being utilized can
be measured. It provides excellent undisturbed areas for
benign research. Also, while recreation on the high seas
seems difficult, some adventurous people are already paying
large sums ($32,500 each) to be taken by submersible to view
the remains of the Titanic.
During the Fourth World Wilderness Congress (WWC4),
held in Colorado, U.S.A., in 1987, a 5-day seminar was held
entitled “Ocean Wilderness.” Discussion among participants
from many countries was sponsored by WWC4 organizers,
the IUCN, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, a U.S. government agency with responsibility for marine programs).
The Fourth World Wilderness Congress resolved that
more should be done in coastal waters to develop systems of
protected areas in marine environments within the waters
of coastal states. It said that wilderness is an appropriate
designation for certain pristine areas. I am proposing at this
Congress a resolution to extend these concepts to the high seas.
A number of difficulties inhibit the development of an
international system of Marine Protected Areas. First is the
lack of appreciation by governments and by people who do
not realize that the oceans are extremely valuable, they
heavily influence weather, they are subject to present and
future threats, and they are very poorly understood.
Next, at present there is no international body with clear
authority to undertake the task. While there are a number
of existing agencies, such as the International Maritime
Organization, the United Nation’s Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Biosphere Reserves
program, UNEP’s (United Nations Environment Program)
Regional Seas, and a number of agencies established by
treaties, such as the United Nation’s Convention on the Law
of the Sea, and the Convention on Biological Diversity, none
of them have been analyzed by international lawyers to
determine if they could assume the authority required to set
up such a program.
Third, there is a critical need for an extensive and coordinated research program on all aspects of the marine environment. We must hear from the scientists. So far, only exciting
glimpses of the wealth of marine biota in the midwaters and
on the seabed have been photographed. A relative handful of
scientists venture down into the deep in the new technological wonders of submersibles. Tethered robots also can extend even deeper, taking photographs and gathering specimens. Nations must cooperate in marine research, preferably
under the coordination of an international agency. We have
known about chemosynthetic life at the hydrothermal vents
for only 20 years. What wonders remain to be discovered?
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Management ___________________
Assuming that an appropriate international agency can
be identified or established, its duties would include coordinating research programs so that the complexities and
functions of the marine world can be better understood. We
need an inventory of what is there. Management regimes
should be established. IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas has established a system of six categories of
protection. Originally developed for terrestrial areas, they
now apply to marine areas as well. The categories range from
areas warranting total protection to areas being managed
for sustainable use. Category I includes wilderness. Characteristics of the natural features, size, location, and vulnerability to threats would guide the degree of protection to be
afforded to candidate areas.
Monitoring and Enforcement ______
While monitoring activities in and under the high seas
may seem like a formidable task, technological developments would facilitate it, such as satellite observation. The
system of extremely sensitive listening devices installed on
the seabed by the United States Navy, but now discontinued,
could be utilized. Enforcement could be a project of the
world’s navies. Already the navies of France and Australia
are enforcing some fisheries regulations in the Southern
Ocean, while the United States Coast Guard is doing the
same in the Northern Pacific.
Conclusion _____________________
Protecting areas on the high seas is an idea whose time has
come. This new concept would benefit from your thinking
and suggestions. I hope you will help.
References _____________________
Broad, William J. 1997. The universe below. New York, NY: Simon
& Schuster. 432 p.
Earle, Sylvia A. 1995. Sea change, a message of the oceans. New
York, NY: Fawcett Columbine. 353 p.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 1998. Minister of Fisheries and
Oceans announces two offshore pilot Marine Protected Areas.
Vancouver, BC: Canada Press Release: December 8. 2 p.
GESAMP (Global Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Protection). 1997. Report of GESAMP Correspondence Group on fossil
fuel CO2 storage in the deep ocean. 16 p.
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