The Ship Has Reached the Shore: The High Seas Treaty Explained

There's a video online of a room full of exhausted diplomats breaking into applause after nearly 20 years of work. One woman brings down the gavel and says, "the ship has reached the shore." That moment, in March 2023, closed out a negotiation that had already failed once in public. It became binding international law this year, and the fight over what it actually protects is happening right now.

In this episode, Andrew traces the full history of the High Seas Treaty, formally the BBNJ Agreement (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction): from the idea first raised at a UN Oceans working session in 2004, through nine years of debating whether a treaty was even needed, to the failed 2022 negotiating session, to the breakthrough text agreed in March 2023. He breaks down the treaty's four pillars, benefit-sharing from marine genetic resources, marine protected areas in international waters, environmental impact assessments for new high seas activity, and capacity building for coastal nations that can't afford their own deep-sea research fleets, and explains why each one was a genuine sticking point between countries.

The treaty entered into force on January 17, 2026, making it binding law rather than a symbolic milestone. Roughly two thirds of the ocean lies beyond any single country's jurisdiction, and before this treaty, less than one percent of that area had any form of protection. Ratifications are still climbing, the first Conference of the Parties is expected in January 2027, and a long list of unresolved questions, from secretariat hosting to how marine protected areas actually get designated, will get fought out there. It's not a perfect treaty. It's a beginning.

Takeaways:

• The High Seas Treaty (BBNJ) took roughly 20 years to negotiate, including a public failure at the fifth negotiating session in August 2022.
• Agreement on the treaty text was reached March 4, 2023, after a marathon final session; it was formally adopted June 19, 2023.
• The treaty rests on four pillars: marine genetic resource benefit-sharing, marine protected areas in international waters, environmental impact assessments, and capacity building/technology transfer.
• It needed 60 ratifications to take effect. Morocco became the 60th ratifying country on September 19, 2025.
• The treaty entered into force January 17, 2026, and now covers roughly two thirds of the ocean that previously had almost no protection.
• The first Conference of the Parties (COP1) is expected in January 2027, where major unresolved issues get decided.

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