Jon's Journal: Day 14 - Oceana USA
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August 18, 2004

Jon’s Journal: Day 14


[editor’s note, by Jason] Jon Warrenchuk is currently participating in NOAA’s 2004 Gulf of Alaska Seamount Expedition.


August 12, 2004: Y’arr! It’s been thirteen days without sight of land. In fact, we’re so far offshore that we’re nearing the edge of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the United States. The EEZ is the boundary that contains the sovereign ocean waters of the United States and extends 200 miles seaward from the U.S. shoreline. The next seamount to explore, Pratt seamount, lies just outside the EEZ in international waters (y’arr, it’s in the high seas me’boy). The high seas are truly the last frontier on Earth. But since no individual country holds sway over this resource, it’s relatively unprotected and unregulated.

There is a United Nations convention, the “Law of the Sea”, and while we observe it as a matter of course, the U.S. does not endorse it. The “Law of the Sea” does address some extractive activities like deep-sea mining, but not others like high seas fishing. In some parts of the ocean, high seas bottom trawling is a real problem.

My organization, Oceana, supports a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling until there are agreements in place to protect special areas like seamounts. Seems reasonable, doesn’t it?

So what happens once we cross into the lawless international waters outside the EEZ? Were there pirates, offshore gambling casinos, international intrigue, and debauchery? The answer is… no. Understandably, it’s anticlimactic.