The governance of marine resources across the high seas (the ocean that lies beyond the 200nautical mile jurisdictional limit of any one country) are governed by an amalgam of cooperative regulatory arrangements, ranging from international conventions that dictate the law of the seas to regional bodies with mandates to regulate shipping, mining, and fishing. Under this fragmented framework, the management of marine systems across international scales has largely failed at achieving their conservation goals. Regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) have been predominantly ineffective at conserving fish stocks, and even lauded regional bodies such as the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) have been slow at achieving their conservation mandates.

Despite covering two-thirds of the ocean and encompassing many global biodiversity hotspots, ABNJ remain largely unprotected. International management organizations, tasked with ensuring the sustainable management of species and ecosystems in ABNJ, have been criticized for their inability to achieve conservation objectives. Challenges include a lack of coordination, failure to mitigate conflicts, and insufficient action to address cumulative impacts such as overfishing, bycatch, climate change adaptation, and the sustainable management of shared fish stocks. As it stands, the high seas are governed by 41 regional fishery bodies, each with their own conservation remits and governance limitations. Among these bodies, CCAMLR has been recognized as a pioneer in high seas governance, notable for its ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management and stringent conservation principles. This dissertation examines the governance complexities involved in managing marine resources in ABNJ, highlighting progress, gaps, and opportunities for improvement. It presents three case studies that analyze different management frameworks, from national to international levels, addressing marine conservation and fisheries management in each context.

Chapter I provides a comprehensive analysis of the tools needed to manage Southern Oceanfisheries for climate resilience and assesses CCAMLR’s progress toward managing for climate change. Unlike CCAMLR’s comprehensive management of fisheries and ecosystems, the vast majority of the high seas lack a regional seas Convention or Agreement. Chapter II maps out potential policy pathways for the legal protection of one of such high seas areas lacking a regional seas convention, the Salas y Gomez and Nazca Ridges, a key biodiversity hotspot in the Southeast Pacific. Distant water fisheries remain as the primary threat to high seas ecosystems globally, with government subsidies playing a crucial role in their profitability, range, and duration at sea. Chapter III examines the role of government subsidies as funding mechanisms for Southern Ocean fisheries and provides an in-depth analysis of the complex operations that underlie these fisheries. Collectively, these three chapters highlight the current threats to high seas biodiversity, the available conservation opportunities, and the necessary governance tools needed to improve the management of marine resources in ABNJ. While conservation efforts are being addressed at national, regional, and international levels, continued cooperation to tackle the polycentric and fragmented management of marine resources in ABNJ will be crucial for the sustainable management of our ocean.