UK is ‘lacking credibility’ at global ocean treaty talks, say campaigners

International negotiations are taking place in New York that aim to establish legally protected areas throughout the world’s oceans.

The UK is undermining itself at a UN negotiation to safeguard the world’s oceans because it allows fishing in protected areas off the British coast, campaigners have said.

Officially called the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, UN member states are meeting for the fifth time in as many years to try to reach a deal that would protect large sections of the high seas.

The negotiations end on March 3, when observers hope there will be a deal to enforce the Cop15 agreement of placing 30% of the world’s marine environment under protected zones by 2030.