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A Spilhaus projection that shows both the one-third of the ocean under countries’ national jurisdiction – known as Exclusive Economic Zones – and the two-thirds that make up the high seas. The map was created through a partnership among OSU’s Jane Lubchenco, Cory Langhoff of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, and Dawn Wright of Esri, a company that develops geographic information systems software. Courtesy of OSU.
Corvallis, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University played a key role in an historic global conservation effort. Known officially as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdictions Agreement, the High Seas Treaty takes effect Saturday.
OSU’s Kirsten Grorud-Colvert admits the High Seas are a vast area, “It’s two-thirds of the ocean, which means it’s like half of our planet.” She adds, “This is international waters, where, up to this point, there hasn’t been a mechanism for creating this conservation for biodiversity.” Grorud-Colvert was part of a team of more than three dozen scientists from 13 countries that developed a roadmap for planning and creating Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). “There are incredibly thriving ecosystems on things like seamounts, whales, tuna, all these species we know and love. Now we’ll have an opportunity for the global community to consider how best to conserve and protect them.” She says some of those ecosystems and species have yet to be discovered. The MPA Guide: A framework to achieve global goals for the ocean they created was published in September 2021.
Work on that guide began when Jenna Sullivan-Stack was a grad student at OSU. She saw, “A very diverse, broad set of expertise that’s been contributing over years. And it’s all based on scientific studies that have taken place over decades.” Now, as an OSU Research Associate, she says it’s rewarding to see the work culminate with ratification of the treaty. “How we implement it is really the work that’s to come and it’s going to be hard work, a lot of compromise, a lot of listening. And our work is sort of calling for science to play a lead role in those conversations.”
Grorud-Colvert and Sullivan-Stack wrote an editorial on the treaty, published Thursday in Science. For more on the treaty and the work to protect the High Seas, visit the High Seas Alliance website.
Palau was the first nation to ratify the High Seas Treaty, in 2024. Morocco became the 60th on September 19, 2025, setting a 120-day clock for it to take effect on January 17, 2026. The guide developed in part at OSU will be used as the UN takes up that conversation starting in about a month.
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Heather Roberts
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