Marine Conservation Institute hosts two data portals that allow users to view the extent and type of protection in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ): the High Seas Protection Portal and Marine Protection Atlas. The High Seas Protection Portal is an interactive map that shows fishery closures and open fishing areas within each regional fisheries management organization’s (RFMO’s) boundaries, deep-sea mining leases and areas of interest, modelled habitat suitability for key benthic taxa, marine designations such as Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs), and political boundaries. Users can also select layers and areas of interest and export these maps for reports or other communications.
Marine Protection Atlas collects and shares the best available information on marine protected areas (MPAs) to track global progress and to promote effective networks of protected areas across the ocean. The interactive map allows users to visualize the level of protection and implementation of the world’s MPAs, highlighting the importance of fully and highly protected areas that have the components necessary to achieve positive conservation outcomes. The Atlas maintains a page specific to tracking protection on the high seas, which currently has 1.3% of its area in designated MPAs, with less than 1% afforded fully/highly protected status – supporting the need for a robust high seas treaty to establish a framework to designate fully/highly protected MPAs in ABNJ.
Explore the High Seas Protection Portal
Explore the Marine Protection Atlas High Seas Page
