Our oceans.

Our most incredible defence system to the carbon problem.

But our oceans have been weakened. They are less able to act as a climate regulator and support much needed adaptation.

This month has been a big month for our oceans. It started with World Ocean Day on 8 June, followed by the Third United Nations Ocean Conference (9 – 13 June).

🏅The conference spearheaded The High Seas Treaty to protect marine life in international waters. The Treaty is officially known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction -BBNJ- agreement.

At the end of the conference the number of countries who joined went up to 50 (out of 60 needed for the Treaty to come into force), and many more said they were going to ratify (make it official).

👉Some post-conference ocean pledges:

• Promoting deep-sea ecosystem literacy
• Ocean investments, including the one-billion euro pledge from the EC
• French Polynesia is planning to create the largest marine protected area in the world
• 37 countries will join the High Ambition Coalition for a Quiet Ocean

🌊Hopefully some real action will be taken. But I didn’t really want to talk about the conference. I want to share more about the DEEP sea.

🤷‍♀️What is the deep sea?

• Depth of 200m+ below the surface
• The average ocean depth is 3,682m, but the deepest section is thought to reach almost 11,000m! This part is called Challenger Deep, in the western Pacific Ocean, towards Guam in Micronesia
• The deep sea, also known as the Abyss (=literally a very deep hole), is the most wondrous part of our planet

👉Legal part

• The high seas take up half of the world’s surface. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) regulates the seabeds that don’t belong to anyone and can decide who can explore there. This is for the benefit of humankind, but should it not be for the benefit of oceankind? Post UN-conference we will hopefully see greater High Seas protection

💪Deep-sea power

• It is thought that 10 million species live there – up to 90% of the marine environment (!) – who said there was no life in the deep sea?
• ❗Ocean seabeds store much more carbon than any tree on land or any mangrove  – the sediments store billions of tonnes of carbon. There is very little research here. But last year a Canadian groundbreaking study revealed that in the first 30cm of seabed sediment (across the country), 10.9 billion tonnes of carbon was found = equivalent of 8.7 billion cars driving for a year!

🐡Who lives in the abyss?

• Anglerfish – this fish has become a bit of an icon synonymous with the abyss against deep-sea mining. They prefer to walk rather than swim. It can grow up to 1.2m long & lives at a depth of up to 2500m
• Gummy squirrel – a yellow and red slug-type animal with a long tail. It can grow up to 80cm in length & lives at 5000m
• Dumbo octopus – given its name because of two ear-like tentacles on the top of its head. On average it grows between 20-30cm long & lives at depths of at least 4000m
• Old age: some of the oldest marine life is black coral which is thought to be 4,270 years old. Even in the deep sea coral is crucial to sustain life!

Sources: UN, Human Nature,High Seas Alliance, Greenpeace, Nausicaa, Synchronicity Earth, NOAA, Oceana, LLNL

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