A global treaty designed to protect the high seas is entering a decisive phase, as countries meet in New York this week to work out how to turn it into action. At the same time, a real-world example in the Galapagos shows what effective ocean protection can look like – from cutting illegal fishing to protecting key migration routes for endangered species.
Issued on: 27/03/2026 - RFI
An aerial view of Sombrero Chino island in the Galápagos, part of a vast marine reserve where strict protections have helped reduce illegal fishing and safeguard migratory species. AP - Dolores Ochoa
For decades, vast areas of ocean beyond national borders have been governed by weak and fragmented rules. These waters – known as the high seas – cover nearly half the planet and support rich but fragile ecosystems.
That changed in January, when the High Seas Treaty – also known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction or BBNJ Agreement – came into force, creating the first global legal framework to protect marine life in international waters.
One of its main tools is the creation of marine protected areas – zones where human activity can be limited or banned so ecosystems can recover. Countries have set a target of protecting 30 percent of the ocean to tackle biodiversity loss.
But while the treaty is now in force, many of its institutions still need to be built. That is the focus of a preparatory meeting which began on Monday and runs until 2 April at the United Nations in New York.
This is expected to be the final preparatory session before the first Conference of the Parties – or Cop – which must be held by January 2027. The aim is to agree on how the treaty will work in practice.
Discussions include governance structures, a scientific body, funding mechanisms and rules of procedure. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, attending as an observer, says the goal is to ensure the system is operational and ready to take decisions from day one.
The stakes are high. Less than 1 percent of the high seas is currently protected, even as pressure from fishing, pollution and climate change continues to grow.
To see what real protection looks like, RFI spoke to two experts in the Galapagos – Susana Cárdenas from the University of San Francisco de Quito and Diana Vinueza from the WildAid Foundation.
RFI: Why was the decision made to expand the Galapagos reserve in 2022? What is the ecological value of this new reserve?
Susana Cárdenas: The scientific data are extremely important here. In the Pacific, there are important marine protected areas, but they are isolated. One of the main questions was connectivity – whether it was possible to extend the Galapagos marine reserve so that it would connect with other key areas, such as the protected area around Cocos Island in Costa Rica.
There is already scientific evidence showing that threatened migratory species use these corridors, especially between the Galapagos and Cocos Island. But they were not protected.
This includes hammerhead sharks, which are critically endangered, as well as sea turtles and several species of whale. That is the main reason the Hermandad reserve was created – to connect with the Bicentenario protected area around Cocos Island, in Costa Rica, which was created at the same time as Hermandad in Ecuador.
RFI: There are different levels of protection. Even in some marine protected areas, fishing is allowed, sometimes using very aggressive methods such as trawling or longline fishing. What is allowed and what is banned in the Hermandad reserve?
SC: The Hermandad marine reserve provides protection across 60,000 square kilometres. This means that no extractive activity can take place there, either artisanal or industrial.
In addition, there are two outer bands that provide another 30,000 square kilometres of protection, where only industrial purse-seine fishing is allowed because it causes fewer accidental catches than longline fishing.
RFI: What are accidental catches?
SC: Accidental catches happen when fishing gear catches not only the target species, for example tuna, but also other species that are not being targeted: sharks, seabirds and sea turtles. Longline fishing uses a line with thousands of hooks. This increases the mortality of threatened and endangered species.
For decades, vast areas of ocean beyond national borders have been governed by weak and fragmented rules. These waters – known as the high seas – cover nearly half the planet and support rich but fragile ecosystems.
That changed in January, when the High Seas Treaty – also known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction or BBNJ Agreement – came into force, creating the first global legal framework to protect marine life in international waters.
One of its main tools is the creation of marine protected areas – zones where human activity can be limited or banned so ecosystems can recover. Countries have set a target of protecting 30 percent of the ocean to tackle biodiversity loss.
But while the treaty is now in force, many of its institutions still need to be built. That is the focus of a preparatory meeting which began on Monday and runs until 2 April at the United Nations in New York.
This is expected to be the final preparatory session before the first Conference of the Parties – or Cop – which must be held by January 2027. The aim is to agree on how the treaty will work in practice.
Discussions include governance structures, a scientific body, funding mechanisms and rules of procedure. The International Union for Conservation of Nature, attending as an observer, says the goal is to ensure the system is operational and ready to take decisions from day one.
The stakes are high. Less than 1 percent of the high seas is currently protected, even as pressure from fishing, pollution and climate change continues to grow.
To see what real protection looks like, RFI spoke to two experts in the Galapagos – Susana Cárdenas from the University of San Francisco de Quito and Diana Vinueza from the WildAid Foundation.
RFI: Why was the decision made to expand the Galapagos reserve in 2022? What is the ecological value of this new reserve?
Susana Cárdenas: The scientific data are extremely important here. In the Pacific, there are important marine protected areas, but they are isolated. One of the main questions was connectivity – whether it was possible to extend the Galapagos marine reserve so that it would connect with other key areas, such as the protected area around Cocos Island in Costa Rica.
There is already scientific evidence showing that threatened migratory species use these corridors, especially between the Galapagos and Cocos Island. But they were not protected.
This includes hammerhead sharks, which are critically endangered, as well as sea turtles and several species of whale. That is the main reason the Hermandad reserve was created – to connect with the Bicentenario protected area around Cocos Island, in Costa Rica, which was created at the same time as Hermandad in Ecuador.
RFI: There are different levels of protection. Even in some marine protected areas, fishing is allowed, sometimes using very aggressive methods such as trawling or longline fishing. What is allowed and what is banned in the Hermandad reserve?
SC: The Hermandad marine reserve provides protection across 60,000 square kilometres. This means that no extractive activity can take place there, either artisanal or industrial.
In addition, there are two outer bands that provide another 30,000 square kilometres of protection, where only industrial purse-seine fishing is allowed because it causes fewer accidental catches than longline fishing.
RFI: What are accidental catches?
SC: Accidental catches happen when fishing gear catches not only the target species, for example tuna, but also other species that are not being targeted: sharks, seabirds and sea turtles. Longline fishing uses a line with thousands of hooks. This increases the mortality of threatened and endangered species.
A sea turtle glides through the Galápagos marine reserve, where protected waters help species feed, migrate and reproduce safely. ASSOCIATED PRESS - Manu Mielniezuk
RFI: To make sure these protected areas are not just “paper reserves”, there needs to be enforcement at sea. Can you explain how the monitoring software works, and how it supports Ecuador’s naval forces?
Diana Vinueza: We spent a long time looking for the most effective platform to monitor fishing activity, and we found the Themis platform, developed by a French company, CLS, based in Toulouse.
We have used it for nearly eight years to monitor both the Galapagos marine reserve and the Hermandad marine reserve. The platform shows maps on screen that let you see all the collaborative vessels navigating in the marine reserve.
Collaborative means these vessels are equipped with VMS, or Vessel Monitoring System, and AIS, or Automatic Identification System, which allow authorities to track them remotely. Ecuador’s fishing fleet is required to use them so it can be monitored by the relevant authority.
RFI: What does this tool look like in practice?
DV: It is a dynamic map viewed on a screen that allows you to observe maritime traffic crossing our exclusive economic zone.
Ocean’s survival hinges on finding the billions needed to save it
RFI: Do you sometimes detect suspicious vessels, or vessels engaged in activities they should not be carrying out, such as trawling?
DV: Yes, the platform allows us to observe vessel behaviour. In the case of industrial fishing, for example purse-seine fishing, a vessel’s average navigation speed is eight knots. But when it reaches fishing speed, it cuts its engines because it is drifting in order to carry out the fishing manoeuvre.
The platform helps us observe this kind of behaviour. It also sends alerts if a vessel enters an area where it has no right to go, which gives you intelligence to detect illegal activity, such as illegal fishing in the Hermandad marine reserve or the Galapagos marine reserve.
RFI: Are there still cases of boardings, or do vessels generally respect the rules?
DV: In 2010, when we began using satellite surveillance technology in the country and in the Galapagos marine reserve, that was the year we recorded the highest number of boardings and seizures of fishing vessels carrying out illegal activities.
Since 2010, logically, because they now know there is an authority watching, these activities have decreased enormously.
The country’s law, which was strengthened in 2015, has also helped us a great deal. If a vessel enters the Galapagos marine reserve, it can be fined 300, 5,000 or 10,000 dollars for entering a protected area where it should not be carrying out activities without justification.
Satellite surveillance platforms are therefore essential both to ensure people respect the rules and for enforcement. We work in the same way for the Hermandad reserve.
RFI: Can fishing vessels pass through the Hermandad reserve?
DV: Yes. Hermandad lies in an exclusive economic zone, in the Galapagos island region. We are signatories to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. We must grant the right of “innocent passage” to all vessels travelling through our exclusive economic zone.
RFI: Protecting the water also allows fish stocks to recover. There's what is known as a “spillover effect”, meaning fish stocks also increase in areas near marine reserves. This has been observed in the Mediterranean for lobster and in the Atlantic for cod. Has something similar happened in the waters around the Galapagos reserve?
DV: It has been proven that, thanks to the creation of this protected area in the Galapagos, fishing has been maintained in Ecuador, for example tuna fishing. This is the “spillover effect” generated by the protected area in the Hermandad marine reserve. It has allowed that area to maintain high fishing productivity.
Fishing activity is concentrated in an area known as the west of the Galapagos Islands, but outside the protected zone. They are there precisely because of everything the Galapagos does. Marine protected areas benefit fishers and guarantee food security for all the peoples of the planet. What Ecuador’s tuna fleet catches feeds the world.
This interview was adapted from the original version in French by Raphaël Morán.
RFI: To make sure these protected areas are not just “paper reserves”, there needs to be enforcement at sea. Can you explain how the monitoring software works, and how it supports Ecuador’s naval forces?
Diana Vinueza: We spent a long time looking for the most effective platform to monitor fishing activity, and we found the Themis platform, developed by a French company, CLS, based in Toulouse.
We have used it for nearly eight years to monitor both the Galapagos marine reserve and the Hermandad marine reserve. The platform shows maps on screen that let you see all the collaborative vessels navigating in the marine reserve.
Collaborative means these vessels are equipped with VMS, or Vessel Monitoring System, and AIS, or Automatic Identification System, which allow authorities to track them remotely. Ecuador’s fishing fleet is required to use them so it can be monitored by the relevant authority.
RFI: What does this tool look like in practice?
DV: It is a dynamic map viewed on a screen that allows you to observe maritime traffic crossing our exclusive economic zone.
Ocean’s survival hinges on finding the billions needed to save it
RFI: Do you sometimes detect suspicious vessels, or vessels engaged in activities they should not be carrying out, such as trawling?
DV: Yes, the platform allows us to observe vessel behaviour. In the case of industrial fishing, for example purse-seine fishing, a vessel’s average navigation speed is eight knots. But when it reaches fishing speed, it cuts its engines because it is drifting in order to carry out the fishing manoeuvre.
The platform helps us observe this kind of behaviour. It also sends alerts if a vessel enters an area where it has no right to go, which gives you intelligence to detect illegal activity, such as illegal fishing in the Hermandad marine reserve or the Galapagos marine reserve.
RFI: Are there still cases of boardings, or do vessels generally respect the rules?
DV: In 2010, when we began using satellite surveillance technology in the country and in the Galapagos marine reserve, that was the year we recorded the highest number of boardings and seizures of fishing vessels carrying out illegal activities.
Since 2010, logically, because they now know there is an authority watching, these activities have decreased enormously.
The country’s law, which was strengthened in 2015, has also helped us a great deal. If a vessel enters the Galapagos marine reserve, it can be fined 300, 5,000 or 10,000 dollars for entering a protected area where it should not be carrying out activities without justification.
Satellite surveillance platforms are therefore essential both to ensure people respect the rules and for enforcement. We work in the same way for the Hermandad reserve.
RFI: Can fishing vessels pass through the Hermandad reserve?
DV: Yes. Hermandad lies in an exclusive economic zone, in the Galapagos island region. We are signatories to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. We must grant the right of “innocent passage” to all vessels travelling through our exclusive economic zone.
RFI: Protecting the water also allows fish stocks to recover. There's what is known as a “spillover effect”, meaning fish stocks also increase in areas near marine reserves. This has been observed in the Mediterranean for lobster and in the Atlantic for cod. Has something similar happened in the waters around the Galapagos reserve?
DV: It has been proven that, thanks to the creation of this protected area in the Galapagos, fishing has been maintained in Ecuador, for example tuna fishing. This is the “spillover effect” generated by the protected area in the Hermandad marine reserve. It has allowed that area to maintain high fishing productivity.
Fishing activity is concentrated in an area known as the west of the Galapagos Islands, but outside the protected zone. They are there precisely because of everything the Galapagos does. Marine protected areas benefit fishers and guarantee food security for all the peoples of the planet. What Ecuador’s tuna fleet catches feeds the world.
This interview was adapted from the original version in French by Raphaël Morán.
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