Introduction

Environment Tasmania welcomes the High Seas Treaty and the opportunity it presents to strengthen the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

The high seas are a vital part of the global ocean, supporting extraordinary biodiversity, migratory species and ecological processes that connect marine environments across national boundaries. They are also increasingly exposed to human pressures, including fishing, shipping, pollution, climate change and potential future industrial activities.

The Treaty provides an important framework for establishing area-based management tools (ABMTs), including marine protected areas (MPAs), to conserve marine biodiversity and support the sustainable use of ocean resources. Its effectiveness will depend on the quality of proposals, the strength of conservation measures, meaningful international cooperation and long-term investment in implementation.

We encourage the Australian Government to take an active role in advancing ambitious high seas protection and ensuring that proposals translate into meaningful conservation outcomes.

1. Identify and prioritise areas of significant ecological value

The identification of areas for protection should be guided by the full range of ecological criteria in Annex I of the Treaty. These include uniqueness, rarity, importance to species’ life-history stages, vulnerability, fragility, biodiversity, representativeness, ecological connectivity and important ecological processes.

Environment Tasmania supports an approach that considers these criteria together, recognising that the conservation value of an area may arise from several interacting features and processes.

Proposals should identify and assess:

• Important habitats and ecosystems, including rare, unique, vulnerable or underrepresented environments.

• Areas that support feeding, breeding, spawning, nursery and migration functions for marine species.

• Habitats and species that are threatened, declining, fragile or slow to recover from disturbance.

• Areas of high biodiversity, productivity or ecological significance.

• Oceanographic and ecological processes that sustain marine life and connect habitats and populations.

• Areas that contribute to the representativeness and connectivity of a wider network of protected places.

Individual protected areas need to be sufficiently large and appropriately configured to achieve their conservation objectives. A network should protect a range of ecological features and avoid relying on a small number of isolated sites.

The Australian Government should support proposals that identify conservation priorities at the scale of ocean basins and connected ecosystems, rather than considering proposed boundaries in isolation.

2. Assess human activities and cumulative impacts

A robust assessment of existing and potential future human activities is essential to understanding the pressures facing a proposed MPA and determining the management measures required.

Assessments should consider not only individual pressures but also their combined and cumulative effects. Multiple activities may interact, increasing ecological stress or undermining the capacity of species and ecosystems to recover. These pressures must also be considered alongside climate change, ocean acidification and changing ocean conditions.

Environment Tasmania supports the use of precautionary and ecosystem-based approaches where information is incomplete or uncertainty remains. Lack of comprehensive data should not automatically prevent action where credible risks to biodiversity have been identified.

We recommend that Australia support proposals that:

• Identify current and reasonably foreseeable activities within the proposed area.

• Assess direct, indirect, cumulative and transboundary impacts.

• Consider the likely development or intensification of activities over time.

• Identify threats to the proposed conservation objectives and the measures needed to address them.

• Account for the interaction between human pressures and climate-related changes.

This assessment should inform the design of the protected area and its management measures from the outset, rather than being treated as a separate technical exercise.

3. Establish clear, long-term conservation objectives

MPAs should be established to achieve specific, long-term biodiversity conservation objectives. These objectives should be central to the design of the area, the selection of management measures and the assessment of whether protection is working.

Environment Tasmania supports objectives that prioritise the conservation of biodiversity, the maintenance of ecosystem integrity and the protection of important habitats and species. Where sustainable use is included, it should be consistent with the primary conservation objectives and should not compromise the ecological values the area is intended to protect.

Objectives should be specific and measurable wherever possible, with clear baselines, indicators and timeframes. This will enable decision-makers and the public to understand what the MPA is intended to achieve and whether it is delivering those outcomes.

For example, objectives may include:

• Maintaining or improving the condition of identified habitats and ecological features.

• Protecting important areas for threatened, vulnerable or declining species.

• Maintaining ecological connectivity and the processes that sustain marine populations.

• Reducing identified pressures that threaten biodiversity and ecosystem integrity.

• Supporting the recovery and resilience of ecosystems exposed to human impacts and changing ocean conditions.

The Australian Government should encourage proposals to clearly explain how the precautionary principle and ecosystem-based management have informed their objectives, including how uncertainty and risk have been considered.

4. Develop effective management plans and protection measures

Designation alone does not guarantee effective conservation. MPAs need clear management arrangements, appropriate restrictions on damaging activities, sufficient resources and mechanisms to ensure compliance.

Management measures should be tailored to the ecological values and threats identified in each proposal. Where activities pose a risk to the conservation objectives, restrictions should be sufficiently strong to prevent those activities from undermining protection.

The Australian Government should support management plans that include:

Appropriate protection measures

Plans should specify which activities are permitted, restricted or prohibited, and explain how those decisions relate to the conservation objectives. Where zoning is proposed, the purpose and conservation contribution of each zone should be clear. Core protection areas should provide meaningful safeguards for the features they are intended to conserve.

Clear governance and coordination

Plans should identify the relevant management authorities, responsibilities and institutional arrangements. They should explain how different states, international bodies, regional organisations and sectoral frameworks will coordinate implementation and address gaps or overlaps.

Adequate and sustained funding

Long-term financial planning should identify the resources required for management, monitoring, research, compliance, enforcement, stakeholder participation and review. Funding should be sufficient to support the MPA throughout its designation, rather than relying on short-term establishment commitments.

Monitoring and research

Monitoring should be designed around the MPA’s conservation objectives and indicators. Plans should identify what will be monitored, how monitoring will be conducted, who is responsible and how results will be reported. Research should address important knowledge gaps and support adaptive management.

Compliance and enforcement

Plans should set out how compliance will be monitored and how breaches will be detected and addressed. Surveillance, enforcement responsibilities and cooperation between relevant authorities should be clearly described.

Review and adaptive management

Management should be reviewed at regular intervals against the stated objectives and performance indicators. Where evidence shows that measures are not achieving their purpose, there should be a transparent process for adjusting management.

5. Ensure meaningful consultation and participation

The development of high seas MPA proposals should include meaningful consultation with relevant states, stakeholders, scientific experts, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, as appropriate.

Consultation should occur early enough to inform the proposal’s design, rather than simply seeking feedback after key decisions have already been made. It should provide opportunities to consider the merits and geographic scope of the proposal, scientific information, existing measures and activities, and potential implications for connected areas.

Environment Tasmania supports consultation processes that are transparent, accessible and adequately resourced. Proponents should document who was consulted, the information provided, the issues raised and how feedback influenced the proposal.

There must be adequate recognition of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including traditional uses, cultural significance, community involvement and the appropriate integration of traditional knowledge. Any such engagement must respect Indigenous rights and the conditions under which knowledge is shared and used.

Scientific and traditional knowledge can provide complementary insights into marine environments, species, ecological change and the relationships between people and the ocean. Where traditional knowledge is available and offered, it should be considered through appropriate processes that respect rights, consent and cultural protocols.

The Australian Government should also encourage ongoing engagement after designation, so that communities and relevant stakeholders can contribute to monitoring, review and the continued effectiveness of management.

6. Coordinate with existing international and regional measures

High seas MPAs will operate within a complex system of international, regional and sectoral arrangements. Their effectiveness will depend in part on how well they complement existing conservation and management measures and address gaps in protection.

Proposals should identify relevant existing ABMTs and measures implemented under other international instruments and frameworks, including fisheries management arrangements, shipping measures and other relevant sectoral controls. They should also explain how the proposed MPA will interact with these arrangements and where additional measures may be needed.

Environment Tasmania supports a coordinated approach that avoids fragmented management and ensures that conservation objectives are not undermined by inconsistent rules across sectors or jurisdictions.

The Australian Government should support:

• Clear identification of existing conservation measures and their effectiveness.

• Coordination with relevant regional and global bodies.

• Identification of gaps, overlaps and potential conflicts between management arrangements.

• Complementary measures across relevant sectors, where required to achieve conservation objectives.

• Transparent processes for cooperation and information sharing between states and institutions.

The existence of existing management arrangements should not, in itself, be considered sufficient protection. Proposals should assess whether those measures are actually delivering the conservation outcomes required and identify additional action where gaps remain.

7. Provide for long-term protection and adaptive management

MPAs should be designed as enduring conservation measures, with clear arrangements for their duration, implementation and review.

Environment Tasmania supports long-term designation where it is necessary to achieve lasting biodiversity outcomes. Any proposed seasonal or temporal restrictions should be supported by ecological evidence and clearly linked to the conservation objectives.

Implementation should be supported by a realistic timeline, including the steps required to establish governance arrangements, introduce management measures, begin monitoring and make compliance systems operational.

Regular review should assess whether the MPA is achieving its objectives and whether management measures remain appropriate in light of new scientific information, changing human activities and changing ocean conditions.

Adaptive management should not become a mechanism for weakening protection without evidence. Any changes should be transparent, supported by relevant scientific information and assessed against the original conservation objectives.

8. Strengthen the scientific basis of proposals and address knowledge gaps

The scientific basis of a proposal should be clearly presented and accessible. Environment Tasmania supports proposals that draw on the best available scientific information, including research on physical ocean conditions, seabed features, biological communities, species distributions, ecological relationships and biodiversity status.

Where information is incomplete, proposals should identify the gaps and explain how uncertainty has been considered in the assessment of ecological value and risk. Monitoring and research programs should be designed to improve understanding over time and inform management decisions.

We encourage the Australian Government to support collaboration between research institutions, scientific networks and relevant international bodies, including the sharing of data and methods that can improve the consistency and quality of proposals.

Scientific evidence should inform both the initial designation and the ongoing evaluation of protection. This includes assessing whether the area is sufficiently large, connected and representative to achieve its intended conservation outcomes.

Recommendations

Environment Tasmania recommends that the Australian Government:

1. Support ambitious, science-based high seas MPAs that protect areas of significant ecological value and contribute to a representative and connected global network.

2. Apply the full range of Annex I ecological criteria, considering uniqueness, rarity, life-history importance, vulnerability, biodiversity, connectivity, ecological processes and other relevant features.

3. Require robust assessments of human activities, including current and potential future pressures, cumulative impacts and transboundary effects.

4. Prioritise clear, long-term conservation objectives, with measurable indicators, baseline conditions and timeframes for assessing success.

5. Ensure management plans deliver effective protection, with appropriate activity restrictions, clear governance, long-term funding, monitoring, compliance and enforcement.

6. Support meaningful and transparent consultation, including appropriate engagement with states, stakeholders, scientific experts, Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

7. Strengthen coordination across international frameworks and sectors, identifying gaps in existing measures and ensuring complementary management.

8. Commit to long-term implementation and adaptive management, with regular review against conservation objectives and transparent reporting.

9. Invest in scientific research, monitoring and information sharing, including efforts to address knowledge gaps and assess changing ocean conditions.

Conclusion

The High Seas Treaty is an important opportunity to improve the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. Its success will depend on more than the number or size of MPAs established. It will depend on whether protected areas are located in ecologically significant places, designed around clear conservation objectives and supported by effective management and long-term investment.

Environment Tasmania encourages the Australian Government to take an active role in advancing a strong and coherent high seas protection framework. By supporting proposals that are scientifically robust, precautionary, inclusive and effectively managed, Australia can contribute to the protection of marine life and the ecological processes that sustain the global ocean.

Signed:

Rebecca Howarth

Senior Marine Campaigner

Environment Tasmania