Several Turkish experts welcomed the United Nations’s recent landmark agreement on protecting biodiversity in high seas, describing it as “promising” to hold potential for the further exploration and safeguarding of seas and oceans.
Members of the U.N. unanimously adopted the first-ever treaty to protect marine life in the high seas on Monday, with the U.N.’s chief hailing the historic agreement as giving the ocean “a fighting chance.”
The agreement, focusing on the negative impacts of climate change, overfishing and shipping traffic on biodiversity, will impose restrictions on fishing activities on the high seas and limitations on sea mines, maritime transport routes and exploration activities.
Bayram Öztürk, the head of the Marine Biology Department at Istanbul University’s Faculty of Aquatic Sciences and the president of the Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TÜDAV), elaborated on the agreement’s details.
In a recent interview with Anadolu Agency (AA), he highlighted that the agreement aims to declare 30% of the world’s seas and oceans as protected areas by 2030.
Öztürk also emphasized the agreement’s impact on Türkiye and its surrounding seas. He explained that while the protected areas in the Central Mediterranean could potentially pose challenges for Türkiye, as the country relies on open sea areas and engages in tuna fishing near the coast of Malta; he said that the country has developed its own initiative in the Finike Underwater Mountains.
“It has nothing to do with land (structures). It’s a protected area in the open seas. This area needs to be expanded and enlarged more because a country like Türkiye needs to take the lead in protecting the high seas,” he said.
“You have given the oceans a new chance of hope and struggle,” said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his statement on the agreement’s adoption.
Referring to his words Öztürk said, “The protection of the oceans means that there will be no human activity. It means that there will be no fishing, no oil extraction, no seabed mining, and these measures instill hope for the health and well-being of our oceans.”
He also highlighted the primary challenges related to open seas, emphasizing pollution and rising temperatures as the most significant problems. In addition, the oceans are witnessing the formation of extensive plastic islands and a growing proliferation of invasive species.
Over the past 50 years, the Mediterranean Sea has experienced an alarming temperature increase of approximately 1.5-2 degrees. Considering these concerns, Öztürk underlined that the issue concerning protected areas should be followed thoroughly.
Professor Cem Gazioğlu, Director of the Institute of Marine Sciences and Management at Istanbul University, commented on the recently signed United Nations agreement, saying that it represents a significant step toward preserving the health of the oceans in all aspects.
Noting that the agreement on the conservation of biological diversity can be seen as an extension of the agreement on protecting open seas, Gazioğlu emphasized that the new agreement sets the groundwork for preserving biodiversity.
According to Gazioğlu, the newly established agreement is set to bring regulations for offshore mining, which currently operates with limited oversight.
“Presently, these mining operations are conducted without any adherence to rules or regulations. I think that these agreements, however, will provide the necessary foundation for the betterment of humanity,” he said.
Noting that some 70% of species discovered around the globe annually have seas as their habitats, Gazioğlu stated that a vast part of the sea waters remains unknown to mankind.
“There is still a lot to learn, know and research on the seas; these agreements provide the ground for them,” he concluded.
