Greenpeace is urging the UK government to protect the Sargasso Sea and propose its designation as the first ocean sanctuary under the Global Ocean Treaty.
New research from the organisation shows the pressure the area is under thanks to commercial fishing mainly using drifting longlines.
These longlines – used in 97% of fishing activity in the Sargasso Sea – are associated with high levels of bycatch such as marine mammals, turtles, seabirds and sharks.
“We’ve seen with our own eyes how the Sargasso Sea is a wildlife haven for many species that are found nowhere else, as well as for baby sea turtles and seabirds on their epic migrations across the Atlantic Ocean,” said Fiona Nicholls, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace UK.
“Drifting longlines pose a major risk to this precious ecosystem because they fish indiscriminately.”
The region – in the Atlantic Ocean – is not only under threat from industrial-scale fishing but from the sheer volume of marine traffic passing through each year. More than 9,000 ships crossed the sea in 2023 and the number of vessels has increased by nearly a third since 2018.
Fishing vessels in particular spent more than 22,000 hours in the Sargasso Sea in 2023, using drifting longlines with an estimated total length of nearly 2,000 kilometres.
Since most of the area lies outside national borders, ways to restrict human activity are limited. The Global Ocean Treaty, agreed last year, makes it possible for governments to create sanctuaries, a ‘national park at sea’ where marine live can thrive.
Greenpeace is therefore urging the UK government in an open letter to do just this as well as calling on the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, to ratify the treaty before the upcoming general election in July.
“The UK government must play its part and transform symbolic commitment to protect the global oceans into bold action,” said Nicholls.
“It’s time to swiftly cement the international agreement into UK law and champion the Sargasso Sea as the world’s first ocean sanctuary under the treaty.”
