The Bermuda Government has led the Sargasso Sea initiative since 2010 and was one of the original signatories to the Hamilton Declaration on Collaboration for the Conservation of the Sargasso Sea, which was signed on March 11, 2014, and which celebrated its 10^th anniversary earlier this year.

As set out in the Hamilton Declaration, the government of Bermuda has responsibility for the appointment of new scientific expert Commissioners to the Sargasso Sea Commission. Commissioners working in their independent capacities collaborate with ten Signatory governments of the Hamilton Declaration in a voluntary structure to “exercise a stewardship role for the Sargasso Sea and keep its health, productivity and resilience under continual review.” 

The new Commissioners are Dr Ana Colaço, a deep sea ecologist at the University of the Azores serving her second term, Dr Frank Muller-Karger, a Professor in the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida with a PhD in Marine and Estuarine Sciences and first-time appointment to the Commission, and Dr David Johnson, a Director of Seascape Consultants Ltd and former Executive Secretary of OSPAR, also a first-time appointment to the Commission. 

The appointment of new Commissioners comes alongside other wins for ocean protection: the announcement by the Azores of creating the largest marine protected area network in the North Atlantic, as well as an ongoing process for Bermuda to protect 20% of its waters under marine protected areas with the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme. Both of these efforts for ocean protection are taking place within 200nm of the coast in the Azores and Bermuda’s exclusive economic zones (EEZs). The work of the Commission focuses on a much larger area of the high seas - beyond the exclusive economic zone of Bermuda.

“The ecology of the offshore Sargasso Sea and Bermuda’s inshore waters are fundamentally connected. I am excited to support the continued work of the Commission in its efforts to conserve this iconic area, which supports the migration routes of animals throughout the Atlantic basin. These new Commissioner appointments have the scientific and diplomatic expertise necessary to acts as excellent stewards of the Sargasso Sea,” said the Hon. Walter H. Roban, Deputy Premier and Minister of Home Affairs.

“The Commission is entering a strategic planning phase,” explained Dr David Freestone, Executive Secretary of the Sargasso Sea Commission. “In early 2025, we will complete a socio-ecosystem diagnostic analysis (SEDA) of the Sargasso Sea, laying out its ecological importance and the pressures it faces from human activity. This SEDA will give rise to a strategic action programme (SAP) for its conservation, which will be agreed by the Signatories to the Hamilton Declaration, Sargasso Sea Commissioners, and other stakeholders.”

The Sargasso Sea Commission is currently implementing a GEF-UNDP-IOC project, a child project of the Common Oceans Programme, "Strengthening the stewardship of an economically and biologically significant high seas area – the Sargasso Sea". During the first week of December, the project will hold a shipping community stakeholder event sponsored by the University of Copenhagen as part of its stakeholder engagement strategy, as well as a project steering committee meeting to progress the development of the SEDA co-hosted by World Maritime Unviersity.

More about Sargasso Sea Commission Projects

The Global Environment Facility funded Common Oceans Program Sargasso Sea project (GEF-UNDP-IOC-SSC) is committed to facilitating a collaborative, cross-sectoral and sustainable stewardship mechanism to put in place a comprehensive conservation framework to protect the unique ecosystem of the Sargasso Sea. Led by UNDP, implemented by IOC UNESCO, and supported by a comprehensive network of partners, it brings together the regional fisheries management organizations, other UN mandated bodies, national agencies and intergovernmental organizations and initiatives, the private sector, civil society and academia.

As well as the GEF-UNDP-IOC-SSC project, the Sargasso Sea Commission is also supported by a sister project. Funded by the French Facility for Global Environment, and in partnership with the University of Western Brittany, Mar Viva, and the Sargasso Sea Commission, the ‘SARGADOM’ project focuses on two remarkable high seas sites – the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic (‘SARGA’) and the Thermal Dome in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (‘DOM’). The aim of the project is to contribute to the protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and to facilitate the development of hybrid ocean governance approaches for the two sites.

For more information, please contact Fae Sapsford – fsapsford@sargassoseacommission.org