To reach the 30×30 target, it is essential to include the High Seas, which make up two–thirds of the world’s ocean. On 17 January 2026, a historic new treaty will come into force to govern them. The Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction is known more simply as the BBNJ or High Seas Treaty. The rules it establishes have the potential to create marine protected areas (MPAs) of transformative size.
In anticipation of this moment, Blue Marine has been working with Namibia Nature Foundation on a bold plan to safeguard the ecologically significant Walvis Ridge. Abundant in marine life across its 3,000km length, the Ridge is a chain of submarine mountains in the Southern Atlantic off the west coast of Africa.
We have commissioned an assessment of Walvis Ridge, which pulled together marine knowledge of the area, including usage. Engagement with representatives from South Africa, Namibia, and Angola has included workshops to formulate a roadmap of options and opportunities. We led initial stakeholder engagement events at the International Marine Conservation Congress in Cape Town, and CBD COP16 in Cali, Colombia. We were also observers at the AGM of the South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation, a management body involved in the area.
High Seas Report
Blue Marine is working in Brussels and elsewhere in Europe to use marine protected areas, fisheries laws and experience from Blue Marine projects to help restore the ocean.
Whales migrate from South America along a ‘humpback highway’ to feed in the Southern Ocean. Blue Marine has helped protect a huge part of it, around the UK territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI).
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