International Declaration to Protect Atlantic Ocean's Sargasso Sea

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reported that the United States, United Kingdom, Bermuda, and other countries have signed a declaration to protect the Sargasso Sea, a calm patch of the North Atlantic Ocean.

The Sargasso Sea's currents bring in algae and marine debris that help create and sustain its unique seaweed. Additionally, it possesses a diversity of wildlife, such as leatherback sea turtles, humpback whales, and bluefin tuna. However, the region is susceptible to various ecological hazards, including pollution, seabed mining, and climate change.

Fishing and shipping traffic have also affected the Sargasso Sea, which have spurred the enactment of the Hamilton Declaration. This two-year negotiation is a nonbinding agreement between the governments located in the broader Sargasso Sea area or those who have an interest in the sea's conservation. The Sargasso Sea Alliance has been fighting for an agreement for years, and finally it seems as if they've succeeded.

The floating islands of sargassum are what make the sea truly unusual. Sargassum is two kinds of seaweed that aren't anchored, unlike traditional seaweed, which grow attached to something. Some sea life is only found on the sargassum, making it a crucial part of the sea's ecosystem. Additionally, two populations of freshwater eels travel from North America and Europe to the Sargasso Sea to spawn and further thrive.

"This is a truly historic occasion," David Freestone, executive director of the Sargasso Sea Alliance, said in this Live Science article. "It is the first time an international alliance has been formed to protect an iconic high seas ecosystem, using existing legal international frameworks."

The Sargasso Sea Alliance is led by the government of Bermuda whose objectives have aimed to protect the sea and obtain legal assurance of its preservation. The next step for the whole process is to figure what will be the first line of order in the agreement; the manner in which the sea will be protected as well as how it can be an example for future agreements of its kind.

To read more about the Hamilton Declaration and the Sargasso Sea, visit this National Geographic article.