The following is a published speech delivered at the Celebration of the Ratification of the High Seas treaty in Australia’s Federal Parliament, Canberra, Australia (23.06.2026) by Alyssa Seckinger-Crow, High Seas Alliance Youth Ambassador for Australia. *Please note Australia has not officially deposited their ratification instrument to the United Nations, but it’s expected to do so in the near future.
“I want to start with a thank you, from the next generation to everyone here who has worked to make ratification happen. And pay my deep respect and gratitude to all first nations custodians, leaders and to the people across the Pacific whose connection to the ocean stretches back generations
Around 37% of Australians are under 30. That is over 1 in 3 people.
As a young Australian who works with thousands of young people in classrooms across the country, what strikes me is how deeply young people care about the ocean. And how rarely the work that happens in rooms like this finds its way back to them.
Australia is celebrating a huge achievement for global ocean protection. And as we do that, I want us to hold in mind the next generation. The ones who will inherit what this ratification allows Australia and our region to lead on.
As you begin planning for the first High Seas marine protected areas, I want to ask you to hold a longer view. By 2030, Millennials and Gen Z will make up 75% of the global workforce. The generation that will govern those protected areas.
They’re in school right now.
Growing up in Australia by the sea, the ocean was my happy place. The joy of getting tumbled around in the waves. Whether it’s surfing, or learning to fish off a jetty with your dad. Across the Pacific those memories may look different, but we all share something in common, the ocean is not just part of our environment, it is part of who we are.
Yet the High Seas are distant. So for most young people they are something they have never seen and never think about. Yet the decisions made about them will shape the ocean young people swim in, sustainably fish from, and depend on.
Part of the challenge is helping young people understand why this Treaty connects to their lives. For those of us in the Pacific, what happens on the High Seas is deeply connected to what happens at home. Bringing young people into that story is not separate from implementation, it is part of it.
Because they do care. Gen Z is more likely than any previous generation to have taken action on environmental issues.
But somewhere between that love of the ocean and the news they’re reading, the story changes. Research shows that 2 in 3 young Australians have their mental health impacted by fears about the future of our environment. And as that figure rises, we risk losing a generation from the very leadership we need from them.
I understand that feeling.
Learning about climate change at 14 with no clear way to do anything about it other than picking up plastic, I get why young people struggle to trust in a healthy ocean future. But then a WWF scientist came into our school and talked about a whale fall.
What’s a whale fall? Just picture a whale, sinking slowly to the ocean floor. Becoming, in its death, a feast for thousands of creatures, a deep sea ecosystem in its own right, sinking carbon with it.
I was mesmerised.
That same year the black summer bushfires hit, and I watched most of the kelp forest at my local beach disappear. Somewhere between that awe and that loss, I decided to give doing something small a crack.
From swimming the English Channel to raise money for restoration, running workshops so young people can hear from the people working on solutions, to working on sustainable aquaculture in North East Arnhem Land and fish markets in Ghana, my journey was one of figuring out how young people can be part of decisions that impact their future. The more I learnt, and the more I contributed, the less scared I felt. And I see this with young people all the time.
So what do we learn from this?
While small actions do give young people hope, landmark decisions like this one are the most powerful antidotes to hopelessness we have.
While young people can’t lead on this Treaty right now, they need to know that leaders in Australia and across the Pacific are working to create a healthy ocean. As we’ve heard from Australia’s Environment Minister Watt, Australia is a strong ocean nation. Alongside our Pacific neighbors, we have the opportunity to lead global ocean stewardship. I ask the leaders across the country to take care of the responsibility you have to lead on the High Seas.
To show what ambitious, science-based protection can look like for the rest of the world.
So my challenge to each of you: talk to one young person about the High Seas Treaty. Tell them what this Treaty means. Not just out on the High Seas, but translated into language that connects to their own life.
Because young people deserve to feel the joy and hope that comes from a moment like this one.
The success of this Treaty will not be measured by ratification alone. It will be measured by whether the next generation feels empowered to carry its promise forward.”
Alyssa Seckinger-Crow is Australia’s High Seas Youth Ambassador and studies Marine and Antarctic Governance at the University of Tasmania. She is the co-founder of Wavechangers, 2026 World Ocean Day Ambassador and the Tasmanian Student Science Communicators Network, and a member of the Antarctic Youth Coalition Research Team.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the High Seas Alliance or its member organizations unless clearly stated.