“The TerraMar Project’s mission is to create a global ocean community for the high seas becoming a digital hub where we can highlight the commission’s proposals. The Project provides ways for people to connect, engage, and learn about the ocean, utilizing our community to advocate for the ocean’s sustainable management at the UN proposing a standalone ocean Sustainable Development Goal. In order to secure a spot for the ocean in those goals, we need to show the United Nations that people care about the sustainable management of the seas. The TerraMar Project offers the ability for people to be part of a community of global commons citizens, citizens of the sea, receive a digital passport to the high seas through the “I Love the Ocean Pledge” which simultaneously sends a message to the UN asking for the ocean to be included in the SDGs.
The Project also provides news through our daily newspaper, THE DAILY CATCH which raises awareness regarding the issues plaguing the seas including marine debris and pollution, overfishing, ocean warming and acidification highlighting breaking and important ocean news. “
“Finally! A landmark review of the ocean with concrete proposals to combat overfishing, marine debris and pollution; leading to increased global ownership and to a sustainably managed ocean. I fully support the Global Ocean Commission’s work and am excited to be a part of Mission Ocean.” – Ghislaine Maxwell, Founder and President of The TerraMar Project
Putting a healthy, living ocean at the heart of the UN’s post-2015 development agenda, with detailed targets and specific indicators for ocean health.
Setting IMO mandatory numbers for large fishing vessels, banning at-sea transshipment, ratifying and implementing international fisheries and labour treaties. Creating greater collaboration with industry and other stakeholders.
Setting time-bound plastic reduction targets while creating incentives to promote recycling and producer responsibility. Restricting or banning certain unsustainable uses, encouraging substitute materials and better recycling systems.
The ocean is vital to the health of the entire planet and the wellbeing of humanity: it is a major source of food; it sustains economies and provides jobs; and it is the great biological pump that drives and regulates global climate, water and nutrient cycles. But this vital importance is too often forgotten; for instance, reference to the ocean was almost non-existent in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This oversight must not be repeated when UN Member States agree to a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to succeed the MDGs for the 2015–2030 period.
The Global Ocean Commission is thus calling for a stand-alone SDG for the ocean, to recognise the essential contribution it makes to sustainable development, and to place the ocean front and centre in the UN post-2015 development agenda.
The Commission is following the negotiations of the SDGs closely, and actively supporting the many countries which are strongly in favour of an Ocean SDG, especially small island developing states from the South Pacific for which the ocean is their major source of livelihood. The proposed set of SDGs will be presented to the UN General Assembly before September 2014. To help ensure that they include a separate SDG for the ocean, the Commission has developed a proposed goal that includes detailed, measurable targets and indicators relevant to the high seas.
Illegal fishing severely undermines all existing conservation and management measures in place for fish stocks. It costs the global economy between US$10 and US$23.5 billion a year, and is largely carried out by vessels from a handful of countries that do not adhere to or comply with international regulations.
Poor countries, which do not have the capacity to monitor their waters and whose vital resources diminish because of illegal pillage, are the worst affected. Illegal fishing is also linked to other forms of criminality as fishing vessels can also be used for smuggling people, drugs and weapons. The illegality of the practice needs to be established, the likelihood of being caught and sanctioned needs to be increased, and illegally caught fish must be prevented from entering markets.
In order to combat and end illegal fishing, the Global Ocean Commission is calling for:
Plastics are a major source of pollution on the high seas and constitute a health threat to both people and the environment. Debris entangles or suffocates seabirds, turtles and marine mammals, and plastic microparticles bio-accumulate, poisoning fish and entering the food chain.
Over 80% of the plastics found in the ocean come from the land, reflecting very poor and irresponsible waste management. However, political and regulatory action is lacking and consumers are not sufficiently aware of the problem.
World plastics production is estimated to increase by over 100 times based on 2010 production levels, from 270 million in 2010 to 33 billion in 2050, a percentage of which will end up in the ocean unless preventative action is taken.
Once it is in the ocean, plastic is very hard to remove, therefore the Commission is calling for coordinated action by governments, the private sector and civil society to stop plastics entering the ocean in the first place. Proposed actions include:
Establishing time-bound quantitative reduction targets;
Creating incentives to promote recycling and extend producer responsibility.
Restricting or banning certain unsustainable uses (e.g. disposable plastic bags and polyurethane packaging);
Encouraging the promotion and innovation of substitute materials and better recycling systems;
Increasing consumer awareness.
The Commission is also concerned about plastics pollution from sea-based sources, notably the problem of lost and abandoned fishing gear. Tens of thousands of fish aggregation devices (FADs) are used by the tuna fishing industry alone; many of them are eventually discarded or lost at sea.
The Commission proposes that all deployed FADs be documented, and that each new FAD from now on be made up of natural fibres and equipped with a tracking device. To discourage their abandonment at sea, the Commission also calls for port disposal programmes that encourage the safe, cost-effective disposal of used fishing gear. The use of natural biodegradable materials in fishing gear should also be promoted.