The very words "high seas" evoke romance,
adventure, mystery. But they have also a legal meaning,
under the United National Law of the Sea Convention,
which is to say, they stand for the international waters
or global commons, making up 64% of the ocean and
covering 45% of the earth's surface; those unregulated
oceans that do not belong to any specific country. It
might come as a surprise to readers to learn that these
waters belong to us, collectively, the people.
Lifelong marine enthusiast—an experienced deep-sea
diver—Ghislaine Maxwell recently launched the TerraMar
Project in order to fill what she sees as a gap in how
other organizations perceive the high seas, often doing
excellent work on behalf of specific territorial waters, but
failing to see the high seas "as one huge, homogenous
place," indeed, a country unto itself, "kind of like the
Wild West."
Through TerraMar's interactive website, visitors may
claim a parcel of the ocean, or befriend a specific
marine species, e.g. green turtles or sea otters, take
a "virtual dive" or find educational projects for parents
HYLAND
