{"id":907567,"date":"2026-09-24T07:18:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T07:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/907567\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T07:18:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T07:18:38","slug":"canada-ratifies-landmark-high-seas-treaty-commits-82-million-to-ocean-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/907567\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada ratifies landmark High Seas Treaty, commits $82-million to ocean protection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney attends a high-level pledging event for the OceanEye International Alliance in support of the Global Ocean Observing System on the sidelines of the the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Canada ratified the landmark High Seas Treaty to protect marine biodiversity on Wednesday and pledged $82-million over five years to a global ocean-monitoring alliance, Prime Minister Mark Carney <\/a>announced in New York on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada is an ocean nation. We have the world\u2019s longest coastline as a consequence of that. That\u2019s our inheritance, and we recognize the obligations, the responsibilities, that come with that to help lead efforts to understand those oceans, and of course, to protect them,\u201d said Mr. Carney, speaking at the launch of the OceanEye International Alliance<\/a>, co-hosted by Canada and the European Union. <\/p>\n

Amid shifting political winds, Canada gets more of the spotlight on the UN\u2019s stage<\/a><\/p>\n

The money will pay for year-round moorings in the Arctic Ocean, which is warming four times faster than the global average, said Mr. Carney. It will support autonomous underwater gliders beneath the ice, expanded monitoring of the Labrador Sea and Davis Strait. It will also more than double Canada\u2019s contribution to the global Argo ocean climate monitoring network, and help modernize the National Oceanographic Data Centre, among other investments.<\/p>\n

The treaty, meanwhile, which became international law<\/a> in January, is the first legal framework for protected areas in waters beyond national jurisdiction, which make up nearly half the planet. OceanEye, which Mr. Carney agreed in June<\/a> to co-chair with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, pays for the instruments that monitor the global ocean\u2019s changing condition. <\/p>\n

Both commitments, one to protect the high seas and the other to monitor the ocean as a whole, land on a tension in Canada\u2019s ocean record. As Ottawa builds partnerships abroad, scientists say it is dismantling the monitoring and research that underpin them at home. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs Canadian scientists, working internationally, we are watching the instruments go dark,\u201d wrote Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Cyr and Brad deYoung in a commentary published Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Cyr, a former Fisheries and Oceans Canada oceanographer now at Memorial University of Newfoundland\u2019s Marine Institute, and Dr. deYoung, a professor emeritus at Memorial, point to significant cutbacks at the federal department, whose own plan projects spending reductions<\/a> of up to $194-million by 2028-29 and about 551 fewer full-time positions. They say Ottawa has scaled back the Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program<\/a>, which has tracked changing ocean conditions for more than two decades, and withdrawn support for the international program<\/a> that monitors the North Atlantic currents that regulate the climate.<\/p>\n

In their letter, they urged Mr. Carney to reverse those cutbacks and attach sustained funding to Canada\u2019s OceanEye role. Of today\u2019s announcement, Dr. Cyr said he was encouraged by the investments the Prime Minister had committed, but still had questions.<\/p>\n

Most concerningly, he hopes the funds will maintain Canada\u2019s role in monitoring the North Atlantic currents that scientists worry could be headed for collapse. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur oceans form one interconnected system. Canada\u2019s leadership on protecting the high seas is much needed. At the same time, any country that is going to lead on the high seas also needs to lead at home,\u201d said Susanna Fuller, vice-president of conservation at Oceans North, a member of the High Seas Alliance, a coalition of more than 80 conservation groups that pushed for the treaty for over a decade.<\/p>\n

Canada signed the High Seas Treaty in March, 2024. Becoming a party now gives Ottawa a seat when countries meet for the first time in January next year. Only 1.5 per cent of the high seas is currently protected. The treaty also requires environmental assessments for high-seas activities and sets rules for sharing the benefits of marine genetic resources found there. As of this week, nearly 100 parties have joined, with Germany, Papua New Guinea and Zimbabwe among the latest to ratify<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Analysis: Trump uses UN address to threaten and deride foes and allies alike, as usual<\/a><\/p>\n

At Wednesday\u2019s OceanEye Alliance event<\/a>, countries were invited to pledge money or in-kind support to the U.N.-backed Global Ocean Observing System<\/a>, the network behind the ocean data used in weather forecasts and climate models. The system draws on 8,000 instruments, from floats to moored buoys, that collect some 120,000 observations a day, according<\/a> to the EU. But the global network that supplies the data faces a critical funding shortfall, said Ms. von der Leyen, with sensors needing upgrades and gaps in coverage.<\/p>\n

The event raised more than $339-million in cash, in-kind support and assets such as research vessels, sensors and drones, according to a joint statement from Canada and the EU, which itself pledged \u20ac92-million. Thirty-one members have joined, including France, Germany, Norway, Britain, Brazil, Mexico and South Korea, along with small island and coastal states such as Palau, Cabo Verde and Mauritius. <\/p>\n

The event is the latest sign of Ottawa\u2019s push to deepen ties with the EU, weeks before a Canada-EU summit in Canada on Oct. 29-30<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The federal nature strategy, which Mr. Carney announced in March<\/a>, set aside $24.4-million over five years, plus $1.8-million in continuing funding, to ratify the treaty and carry out its commitments. <\/p>\n

Canada will also act as host<\/a> of the Our Ocean Conference<\/a> in Halifax May 10-11, 2027. <\/p>\n

Mr. Carney took a moment to acknowledge Canada\u2019s recently named Ocean Envoy and Chair<\/a>, Diana Fox Carney, his wife. \u201cWe intend to be at every table, where the future of the ocean is decided and to continue to raise our ambitions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This story is produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center\u2019s Ocean Reporting Network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Prime Minister Mark Carney attends a high-level pledging event for the OceanEye International…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":907568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-907567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-science","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}