With just five years to deliver on critical global goals, calls to protect the world’s marine ecosystems have never been more urgent.
The 2030 deadline for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is fast approaching. Governments from around the world have pledged to achieve a set of targets aimed at tackling global challenges — from poverty and health to education and the environment. Yet, as the deadline nears, SDG 14: Life Below Water – which aims to conserve and sustainably use the ocean, seas and marine resources for sustainable development – remains one of the most underfunded and underachieved goals. At the same time, accelerated action is needed to deliver the 30×30 target, a global commitment by 196 countries to protect 30 percent of the planet’s land and ocean by 2030, as part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), which kicks off in Nice, France on June 9, is a critical opportunity to get back on track. This year’s theme — “Accelerating action and mobilizing all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean” — underscores the rising urgency to move from commitment to meaningful collective action to protect our shared ocean. With billions of people depending on the ocean for food and livelihoods, inaction and delay will have devastating consequences.
But to act effectively, we need credible information and a clear picture of what’s happening at sea. After all, you can’t manage what you can’t see. And for too long, much of what goes on above and below the water has been hidden from sight.
The good news is that this is beginning to change. Each day, Global Fishing Watch helps shine a light on human activity across the ocean. Using open data and technology, we’re tracking around 100,000 industrial fishing vessels in near real-time on our public, open-source map. Our tools are already helping to clamp down on illegal fishing, protect the ocean and strengthen sustainable management of marine resources.
But much more transparency is needed. That’s why we’ll be at UNOC3 with a clear mission: to place transparency at the heart of global ocean governance.
Why UNOC3 must be a turning point
Despite the scale of human activity at sea, much of it still happens out of sight. Most vessels go untracked. Ownership remains opaque. This lack of transparency makes it nearly impossible to hold bad actors accountable — or to ensure that well-managed fisheries get the recognition and support they deserve.
Transparency isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s the foundation of effective ocean governance. Without it, we’re flying blind in the face of an accelerating ocean crisis.
As heads of state, policymakers, scientists, philanthropists, youth leaders and civil society converge in Nice, the time has come to shift decisively from ambition to action. That’s why Global Fishing Watch is urging governments to accelerate transparency for fisheries management in two key areas.
First, we’re calling for a binding vessel tracking agreement — one that requires industrial fleets to be tracked publicly. And second, we’re advocating for the ultimate beneficial owners of industrial fishing vessels to be understood and published. These two initiatives would not only show where fishing is taking place and by whom but it would also make clear who is benefiting, adding a crucial layer of accountability by bringing vessel activity out into the open.
The Nice Declaration, titled ‘Our ocean, our future: accelerating action’, will be published at the end of UNOC3 (zero draft). While not legally binding, it offers a rare opportunity to include transparency as a core principle of ocean governance.
Agreeing collective action
We know our transparency tools can support action to achieve global ocean goals. As leaders commit to more protected areas as part of their 30×30 objectives, they must ensure these zones are strategically located, properly designated, well managed and effectively monitored, with tough penalties for those engaging in illicit activities within their boundaries. Our marine manager portal, co-founded by ocean advocate Dona Bertarelli, is helping governments identify locations that are best placed to protect ecosystems. And we’re supporting marine authorities to monitor protected areas in even the most remote ocean areas, like the Galapagos Islands and Costa Rica’s Cocos Island National Park.
Satellite technology and open data are also crucial to protecting the high seas. International waters cover nearly half the planet but only 1.5 percent of the high seas is effectively safeguarded. The new High Seas Treaty, which we champion through our work with the High Seas Alliance, can change this. Sixty countries need to ratify the treaty for it to come into effect, and UNOC3 is a key moment to push that forward.
Achieving SDG14 and the 30×30 target may appear daunting, but it is still possible. Our real-world testimonies and success stories demonstrate how transparent data and technology can be used to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, restore ocean biodiversity and support the livelihoods of small-scale fishers.
UNOC3 is an unmissable opportunity to put transparency at the heart of effective ocean governance, and drive bold collective action to secure our ocean’s future.
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Chief Strategy and External Affairs Officer
What is 30x30?
The 30×30 target is a global conservation goal aiming to ensure that by 2030 at least 30 percent of terrestrial, inland water, marine and coastal areas are effectively conserved and managed.This includes areas important for biodiversity and ecosystem services, through ecologically representative, well-connected, and equitably governed protected areas and other area-based conservation measures. It is part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in December 2022 by over 190 countries as a unified effort to address biodiversity loss and safeguard the ecosystems that support life on Earth.
