Source: SPREP
A humpback whale leaving the Southern Ocean for the warm waters of Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu or Niue crosses the high seas and several ocean jurisdictions.
It travels without any restrictions through these countries.
This image frames a Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion side event, where speakers emphasise the Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) – the new High Seas Treaty – is the region’s best chance to protect the ocean’s “invisible highways” before climate change redraws them.
Pacific Ocean Commissioner Dr Filimon Manoni is the moderator for The Blue Pacific and the BBNJ event, as his office is coordinating Pacific preparations from the Treaty’s first Conference of the Parties in January 2027.
Good news with a warning
One of the panelists Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) Pacific Conservation Director Alfred Ralifo says in October 2025 the green sea turtle moved from endangered to least concern on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, after more than 40 years.
Humpback whales are recovering too.
“This proves one thing,” he adds.
“When we all act together in harmony, nature recovers but recovery only lasts if we protect the whole journey.”
Tracking shows some turtles feeding in Papua New Guinea hatched in the Marshall Islands, but their behaviour is now shifting, and they are not the only animal species to change behavioural patterns.
For instance, Western Pacific tuna are projected to move east towards international waters.
Protection is challenging as this becomes a food-security and sovereignty issue too, Alfred says.
“With a 1.5-degree overshoot looming, we are running out of time to protect these pathways.”
With Palau as the first country to ratify the BBNJ Agreement, Principal Advisor to the AOSIS Chair Gwen Sisior says island states look after about 50 million square kilometres of ocean, 20 percent of the world’s total, which is the largest blue lung on the planet.
She adds sustainable management cannot end at a line next to chaos and well-managed Pacific waters next to unregulated high seas would only weaken the region’s work.
The Treaty finally gives small islands a voice offshore, she says.
“For too long, decisions about the high seas were made far away, often by those with the largest fleets and the deepest pockets.
“Protection is no substitute for emissions cuts…ocean action and climate action have to move together.”
Ocean as placenta
New Caledonia Minister of Fisheries, Ocean affairs, Natural Park of the Coral sea, Climate, Research and Innovation, the Hon Minister Johanito Wamytan compares the Coral Sea Natural Park to a placenta.
“It shapes Kanak identity, feeds the people and absorbs carbon, but it is vulnerable to harm coming from outside,” he says.
In 2014, New Caledonia declared its entire maritime area a marine protected area and in 2025, it passed a 50-year moratorium on deep-sea mining.
Minister Wamytan says albacore tuna die of old age in New Caledonia waters because the responsible fishing is practised.
He adds the ocean reserves along the borders of Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Australia and the High Seas are foundation corridors.
“This life-giving ocean must be protected, respected and cherished – everywhere, including beyond national jurisdiction.”
Ocean-climate nexus
Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) Sefanaia Nawadra has made the ocean-climate link the Pacific’s central message at COP31 in Antalya.
“This time around, we need to get the ocean through as a formal item at COP,” he says.
“Climate change compounds other threats to the ocean such as acidification and illegal fishing.”
Pasifika TV at COP31
Papua New Guinea camera operators Varia Pekuku Omoa (EM TV) and Wari Ila from National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), along with reporters Alex Dadamu with Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC), and Riya Bhagwan from Fijian Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) are in Türkiye, supported by Pasifika TV’s Regional Content Manager Tia Soakai and the SPREP contingent.
The cohort are taking part in the Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited (PCBL) and Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) Pre-COP and COP31 Media Programme and will be based at Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion while they report on COP31 events.
The opportunity comes on the back of attending Pre-COP in Fiji and Tuvalu in October, where the realities of climate change were brought into talanoa between international leaders, further reinforcing the Pacific’s unified call for stronger global climate action, and implementation.
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