It’s been a busy few months for the world’s oceans! In May a new film by David Attenborough premiered in cinemas, swiftly followed by the United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference which was held in Nice, France in June. 

“Ocean” by David Attenborough 

In May, David Attenborough’s latest film “Ocean” premiered. The film was a wonderful showcase of both the diversity and beauty of our marine habitats and our dependence on them as humans for everything from food to climate regulation. It also contained important and hard-hitting messages about the immense pressures the ocean faces, particularly in regard to industrial bottom trawling, with a call to action that the ocean can recover if we act now. The film’s global release was timed to coincide with World Ocean’s Day, the UN Ocean Conference and at the midway point through the UN Ocean Decade (2021-2030). The filmmakers felt that, as world leaders were gathering, it was important to highlight that ocean recovery is vital to our future, with marine protection being a key part of that. 

David Attenborough said: “My lifetime has coincided with the great age of ocean discovery. Over the last hundred years, scientists and explorers have revealed remarkable new species, epic migrations and dazzling, complex ecosystems beyond anything I could have imagined as a young man. In this film, we share some of those wonderful discoveries, uncover why our ocean is in such poor health, and, perhaps most importantly, show how it can be restored to health. This could be the moment of change. Nearly every country on Earth has just agreed, on paper, to achieve this bare minimum and protect a third of the ocean. Together, we now face the challenge of making it happen”. 

The Scottish Wildlife Trust’s CEO, Jo Pike, and Head of Communications and Engagement, Pete Haskell, attended the premiere of “Ocean” in London. Pete said: “Watching this landmark film with 2,500 other people in a venue as spectacular as the Royal Festival Hall was very special indeed. Despite Attenborough’s back catalogue of incredible documentaries, this film felt different in its tone and approach, carefully and skilfully balancing despair with hope whilst driving home a vitally important message. It’s a film that I hope everybody takes the time to watch.” 

If you missed “Ocean” in cinemas it is now streaming on Disney Plus. You can also request to hold your own local film screening.

UN Ocean Conference  

The 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference was held in Nice, France, from 9-13 June, with 64 Heads of State and 12,000 delegates. The overall theme of this year’s conference was of “accelerating action and mobilising all actors to conserve and sustainably use the ocean” and built upon previous conferences which were hosted by Sweden and Fiji in 2017 in New York, and by Portugal and Kenya in 2022 in Lisbon.  

These high-level conferences aim to support urgent action towards the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 which is to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”. A small team from The Wildlife Trusts attended the conference, including Head of Marine Conservation, Ruth Williams who wrote a blog about their experience of the week, with a concern that perhaps there was more talk than action. There were however some positive outcomes of the conference.  

Firstly, there was progress towards ratification of the High Seas Treaty. This treaty provides the legal mechanism for the creation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the high seas, which cover two thirds of the ocean and are particularly vulnerable to damage by human activity. It has now been ratified by 50 countries while others, including the UK, have agreed to ratification by the end of the year, meaning it will have the number of countries it needs to come into force. The UK government also announced a Bill will be introduced by end of year to enable ratification of the treaty, which will also deliver on the Government’s commitment to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030. This is also known as 30×30 and is the largest global conservation commitment thus far, with over 90 countries committing to achieve it for both land and sea. 

The Nice Ocean Action Plan was also developed which calls for action to “expand, Marine Protected Areas, decarbonize maritime transport, combat marine pollution, and mobilise finance for vulnerable coastal and island nations, among others”. The Action Plan was adopted by 170 countries and “signals political will for global action to protect the ocean”.  

It contains a range of voluntary commitments, some notable examples of these are: 

• French Polynesia pledged to create the world’s largest MPA 

• Panama and Canada launched the High Ambition Coalition for a Quiet Ocean, supported by 37 other countries, which is the first initiative of its kind to look at tackling noise pollution  

• Spain pledged to create 5 new MPAs that would protect 25% of its marine area 

We also saw the UK government announce a consultation during the week of the conference to ban bottom trawling in 41 English offshore MPAs.

What is the Scottish Wildlife Trust advocating for? 

In Scotland, we are still waiting for fisheries management measures to be implemented for MPAs, which are long overdue considering that many of Scotland’s MPAs were designated in 2016. At present 37% of Scotland’s seas are designated as MPAs but we are falling woefully short on real protection from damaging practices, such as bottom trawling which is particularly detrimental to seabed habitats and species.  

The Scottish Wildlife Trust would like to see a holistic approach to MPA management. This must include properly resourced enforcement, if we are to avoid Scotland’s MPAs simply being “paper parks”. We also need long term data and monitoring to assess the effectiveness of management measures and progress towards Good Environmental Status (GES). Scotland is committed to achieving GES under the UK Marine Strategy but there is currently very poor progress towards achieving it. 

We would like to see swift progress in 2025 towards implementing fisheries management measures in offshore MPAs, which were subject to a public consultation last year. The Trust advocated for a whole site approach to fisheries management in offshore MPAs, rather than a zonal approach which would still allow some practices to take place in certain areas. Protecting the whole MPA from damage is vital for seabed species which are often slow to recover from damage. It also aligns with the ecosystem approach in thinking about connectivity between sites as well as a precautionary view of available data on species distribution.  

Additionally, we want to see meaningful engagement with coastal communities on marine protections, ensuring that lesser heard voices are included in the conversation. This is what we hope to achieve within our Sea the Connection project, because ocean health is vitally important for us all. As David Attenborough states in his film, “If we save the sea, we save our world”.  

Rebecca Crawford
Marine Policy Officer

Definitions 

High Seas: defined in international law as parts of the ocean (along with its associated resources) that is not owned or regulated by any country.  

Ratification: the act of voting on a decision or signing a written agreement to make it official (Cambridge Dictionary). 

Updated July 2025