AUGUST 2018 ScienceAdvances.org SPECIAL COLLECTION: Science of the High Seas Select research published in Science Advances Science Advances is the American Association for the Advancement Today, researchers, enterprise owners, of Science’s (AAAS) open access multidisciplinary journal, publishing and policy makers are working together impactful research papers and reviews in any area of science, in both in haste to understand and manage hu- disciplinary-specific and broad, interdisciplinary areas. The mission man influence on the living and mineral of Science Advances is to provide fair, fast, and expert peer review to resources of the high seas. This effort is a authors and a vetted selection of research, freely available to readers. formable challenge. The oceans represent one-and-a-half times the total land area IN THIS COLLECTION on the planet and their dynamics play critical—yet poorly understood— roles Editorial: High Stakes for the High Seas, eaau8235 in regulating climate and biogeochemi- Jacquet & Jackson cal cycles, supporting biodiversity, and providing rare habitats to rare species. At the same time, development of ocean resources is Corporate control and global governance of marine moving forward at breakneck pace, putting the sustainable health genetic resources, eaar5237 of the high seas at risk. Blasiak et al. A strategy for the conservation of biodiversity on This Special Collection of open access articles, curated by Science Advances Deputy Editor Dr. Jeremy Jackson & Associate Editor Dr. mid-ocean ridges from deep-sea mining, eaar4313 Jennifer Jacquet, has been compiled in the hope that the research Dunn et al. presented can be used to better understand ecological, geological Far from home: distance patterns of global fishing fleets, and other systems underlying the functional health of global eaar3279 oceans, and inform those concerned with the exploration and use Tickler et al. of living and mineral resources found in the high seas. Wealthy countries dominate industrial fishing, eaau2161 The data and analyses in this collection highlight the challenges McCauley et al. in balancing the long-term imperatives of preserving global ocean The economics of fishing the high seas, eaat2504 resources with shorter-term economic and political interests that Sala et al. seek to quickly and vigorously draw value from them. The eight papers in the collection range from a study of the ownership of The environmental niche of the global high seas pelagic marine genetic resources, to work exploring effective management longline fleet, eaat3681 of deep sea mineral mining, to studies investigating the impacts Crespo et al. of expanding large-scale fishing in international waters, including how catch is transported and where it is consumed. Global hotspots of transshipment of fish catch at sea, eaat7159 These and all research published by Science Advances are open Boerder et al. access, free to read online including all supplementary materials. High seas fisheries play a negligible role in addressing global food security, eaat8351 Schiller et al. Contributing Authors Edward. H. Allison Ron J. Etter Jean-Baptiste Jouffray Telmo Morato Heiko Stuckas University of Washington University of Massachusetts Royal Swedish Academy University of the Azores Senckenberg Natural History Megan Bailey Andrey V. Gebruk of Sciences Henrik Österblom Collections Dresden Dalhousie University Russian Academy of Sciences Francis Joyce Stockholm Resilience Centre U. Rashid Sumaila Robert Blasiak Kristina M. Gjerde University of California, Maria L.D. Palomares The University of British Columbia Stockholm Resilience Centre/ IUCN Global Marine and Santa Barbara The University of British Columbia Emma Sundström The University of Tokyo Polar Programme David Kroodsma Daniel Pauly Stockholm Resilience Centre Kristina Boerder Christopher D. Golden Global Fishing Watch The University of British Columbia David Tickler Dalhousie University Harvard T.H. Chan School Lisa A. Levin José A.A. Perez University of Western Australia William Cheung of Public Health University of California, Universidade do Vale do Itajaí Derek P. Tittensor San Diego The University of British Columbia Patrick N. Halpin Gabriel Reygondeau Dalhousie University/UNEP Ana Colaço Duke University Juan Mayorga University of British Columbia Cindy L. Van Dover University of California, University of the Azores Kerry L. Howell Marta C. Ribeiro Duke University Plymouth University Santa Barbara/National Christopher Costello Geographic Society University of Porto Colette C. C. Wabnitz University of California, Caroline Jablonicky The University of British Columbia Douglas J. McCauley Enric Sala Santa Barbara University of California, National Geographic Society Phil Weaver Santa Barbara University of California, Guillermo O. Crespo Santa Barbara Laurenne Schiller Seascape Consultants Ltd. Duke University Jeremy Jackson Dalhousie University Boris Worm Smithsonian Institution Jessica J. Meeuwig Andrew C. Dale University of Western Australia Craig R. Smith Dalhousie University Scottish Marine Institute Jennifer Jacquet University of Hawaii at Manao Dirk Zeller New York University Nathan A. Miller Daniel C. Dunn SkyTruth The University of Western Australia Duke University David Johnson Seascape Consultants Ltd. www.SCIENCEADVANCES.org © 2018 by The American Association for the Advancement of Science. All Rights Reserved. SCIENCE ADVANCES | EDITORIAL ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES High stakes on the high seas oday, “the high seas” are generally understood exploring for sulfides. They underscore the need to set to refer to the vast expanses of open oceans that aside large areas to protect deep-sea populations, to create are not under the formal jurisdiction of any nation. conservation corridors for genetic exchange, and to close Legally, the high seas are defined as the 60% ex- areas around all active hydrothermal vents to protect the panse of the oceans that lie beyond national ex- very rare and precious life forms there. clusive economic zones, which are within 200 While high seas mining is early in expansion, intensive nautical miles (370 km) of coastlines. Despite legal fishing operations are already well-established on the Tdefinitions, however, the expanses of the high seas are high seas, in part due to the overfishing in nearshore Jennifer Jacquet New York University neither well-defined nor well-understood from ecological waters. Tickler et al. (2018) use reconstructed catch data or geological perspectives. The surface area of these waters to present a historical view of the expansion of fishing is one-and-a-half times the total land area on the planet offshore starting in 1950. They found that China, Taiwan, and the dynamics in their depths play critical roles in Japan, South Korea, and Spain are the most active fish- regulating climate and biogeochemical cycles, support- ing nations on the high seas. Using newly available sat- ing incalculable biodiversity and providing rare habitat ellite data, McCauley et al. (2018) found that boats flagged to some of the most charismatic species on Earth. Like to the same five countries represent the greatest fish- the continent of Antarctica and the canopy of the Amazon, ing effort on the high seas and these five countries are the high seas are places that few will experience but re- also among the top countries fishing in the nearshore main sources of wonder and imagination for people of waters of other countries. Although these new data do all nations and cultures. not represent all boats on the high seas, they do provide Today, the sustainable health of the high seas is at the best view of global, spatial view of fishing activities Jeremy B. C. Jackson risk. Industrial activities are already draining the oceans around the planet. Scripps Institution of of their natural capital including valuable minerals, new Three additional studies use satellite data to suss out Oceanography genetic resources, and wild animals. This set of research other views of the impacts of fishing on the high seas. articles on the science of the high seas has been compiled Sala et al. (2018), for example, used several large-scale to underscore some of the major challenges and risks data sets to build a global economic model of high seas that nations face as ocean exploitation accelerates. Each fishing costs and revenues and found that without gov- study explores a particular facet of human influence on the ernment subsidies more than half of high seas fisheries high seas and highlights economic interests in biopros- would be unprofitable. Work on the economics of high pecting, mining, and fishing. We hope that these can serve seas fisheries is relevant not only to sustainability re- to inform researchers and policy makers concerned with searchers but also to policy makers at international in- sustainable management and international governance stitutions including the United Nations and the World of the high seas. Trade Organization, where there is talk of decreasing or A major concern regarding sustainable use of ocean banning fishing subsidies. Crespo et al. (2018) used satel- resources includes how to equitably share benefits de- lite data to develop a model to detect patterns and po- rived from marine genetic resources. Blasiak et al. (2018) tential locations of longline fishing. They showed that this set the stage by looking at the institutional actors that model can be used to predict fishing effort and potential have been acquiring patents on marine genetic resources bycatch,