QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
High Seas Treaty
March 7, 2023
Welcome, Minister Murray. This weekend, at the UN’s Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, countries agreed to a new treaty to protect ocean biodiversity in the high seas. The agreement will be key to achieving the goal to protect 30% of the world’s oceans set in the global biodiversity framework.
The new High Seas Treaty creates a framework for establishing marine protected areas, and conducting environmental impact assessments in ocean areas beyond national jurisdictions. We know this was no easy feat.
This important agreement still needs to be formally adopted and ratified. Minister Murray, could you tell us what the next steps are internationally with this agreement? When could we expect the Government of Canada to ratify this High Seas Treaty?
Thanks for asking about that accomplishment. I was delighted as well, of course, to see that there is framework emerging to have international agreement on protecting the high seas.
We have made a lot of progress on protecting Canada’s oceans. As you may know, we are now protecting almost 15% of Canada’s oceans — up from 1% in 2016. At the Fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress, or IMPAC5, I recently had the privilege of announcing a major new protected area: the Tang.Gwan — hačxwiqak — Tsig̱is protected conservation area.
In terms of the next steps, we will continue to work with the international community on how to move forward regarding protected areas in the open seas. This is about biodiversity; it’s about conservation areas; it’s about conservation of stock, and standards for those things. There will be next steps. Again, I can follow up with you with specific next steps that my department will be undertaking, but — I can assure you — I am an enthusiastic champion for ocean conservation and protected areas.
