Ocean protection: 30% target may wait until 2291

Only 3.5% of the world’s oceans have full or high protection: at the current pace, the figure will not reach 30% until 2291, Greenpeace warns on 19 October. The group wants 11 new protected areas in international waters of the Atlantic Ocean. It says the proposals could protect more than 31% of the Atlantic.

Why the gap matters

The world is still 26.5 percentage points short of the ocean protection target, according to Greenpeace. The group says full or high protection must rule out activities that take resources from the sea, including industrial fishing. In 2025, fishing vessels spent 1.6 million hours fishing on the high seas in the Atlantic, it says.

The report also points to risks for animals that travel across the ocean. It says 80.7% of leatherback turtle habitat where the animals risk being caught by longline fishing lies outside existing protected areas or those under consideration. Major humpback whale migration routes remain exposed to collisions with commercial ships, particularly in the south-west Atlantic.

The plan for the Atlantic

Greenpeace says its 11 proposed high-seas sanctuaries could raise the share of the world’s oceans with full or high protection from 3.5% to about 7.5%. Eight of the proposed sites are already recognised as areas of ecological or biological importance.

The group wants countries to strengthen protection in existing areas, connect them with new sites and work across borders. Its aim is a network covering at least 30% of the Atlantic by 2030.

Topics: Environment · Pollença

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com