ocean resources

The ocean is full of resources, from fish to hydrocarbons, minerals to genetic resources; their value is near impossible to establish. In 2015 the World Wildlife Fund for Nature’s report Reviving the Ocean Economy: The case for action—2015 valued them at US$24 trillion but with our limited knowledge of the whole ocean, what it holds, and how valuable these resources could be, we will never be able to establish their true value.

The question of ownership of the resources depends on their location. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea gives coastal States control over the living and non-living resources in their exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and on their continental shelf. States are free to exploit these resources or to sell licences to other countries to do so, but article 61 of UNCLOS obliges States to exploit any living resources found in the EEZ in a sustainable way.

Beyond the limits of national jurisdiction the principle of the common heritage of humankind prevails. Laid down in UNCLOS and echoed in the High Seas Treaty, living resources found in the area beyond national jurisdiction are considered to be for the benefit of all humankind. The non-living resources of the Area (the ocean floor and seabed beyond national jurisdiction) fall under a different regime, one that is administered by the International Seabed Authority (see the section on seabed mining).

The way that we are currently dealing with these resources is far from sustainable, particularly when it comes to fisheries, where most fish stocks are currently over-exploited or fished to unsustainable levels. Policy governing exploitation is often decided by governments without heeding scientific evidence or considering its impact on the resource or the environment. Scientific evaluations of both the state of the resource in question and the impact of its exploitation can help States manage the resource in a sustainable way without causing harm to the environment.