A rare window to protect seamounts: Why the 2026 UN Bottom Fisheries Review matters

The UN Bottom Fisheries Review

The 2026 UN Bottom Fisheries Review is a critical United Nations process that could decide the future of some of the ocean’s most fragile ecosystems: seamounts. Rising from the seafloor, these underwater mountains are ocean lifelines, supporting species found nowhere else and providing feeding and rest stops for migratory species. Across the global ocean, bottom trawling decimates these vital habitats, dragging heavy fishing gear across ancient deep-sea ecosystems that can take centuries to form.

This review, launched through a workshop at the United Nations on 13–14 July, will feed directly into the drafting of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on protecting vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs). Its outcome will determine whether governments continue to permit the destruction of seamounts, or finally set a clear deadline to end bottom trawling on the high seas. This is a rare window to secure binding commitments and protect our ocean’s lifelines.

The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) is calling on governments to support a UNGA resolution that sets a firm, timebound commitment to end bottom trawling on seamounts in the high seas by the end of 2027. Without a deadline, destruction of these irreplaceable ecosystems will continue.

The UN Bottom Fisheries Workshop (13 – 14 July)

The 2026 UN Bottom Fisheries Workshop is a critical pre-review milestone, serving as the official preparatory step that directly precedes the comprehensive 2026 UNGA review. Taking place in-person at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 13–14 July 2026, the workshop will focus on the implementation of previous resolutions, the impacts of bottom fishing on VMEs, and the long-term sustainability of deep-sea fish stocks.

The workshop will bring together States, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) and other fisheries bodies, alongside specialized agencies, intergovernmental bodies and non-governmental organizations. By convening leading experts in marine science, fisheries management, international law and ocean policy, it will help shape the recommendations that feed into a new UN resolution, informing how governments approach the urgent task of safeguarding vulnerable marine ecosystems in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

What is decided here will set the tone for the review that follows, making the workshop a first, vital step in the fight to protect our ocean’s lifelines.

Bottom trawling on seamounts

Seamounts are hidden underwater mountains rising from the deep seafloor of the high seas, some of the most biologically rich places on Earth. Their steep slopes and complex currents concentrate nutrients and life, creating rare deep-ocean oases that sustain corals, sponges, fish, sharks, whales and other migratory species travelling across entire ocean basins. Many of the species found here are slow-growing, long-lived and exist nowhere else, making these ecosystems both irreplaceable and highly vulnerable to disturbance.

Yet that same richness makes them a prime target for bottom trawlers. The UN Second World Ocean Assessment identifies bottom trawling as the greatest current threat to seamount ecosystems, and scientific evidence consistently shows it causes impacts that meet internationally agreed criteria for Significant Adverse Impacts (SAIs).

Beyond destroying these biodiversity hotspots, trawling disturbs stored carbon and drives localized ocean acidification. Ending it would protect vulnerable species and serve as a vital climate solution in its own right.

Growing momentum

There is growing global momentum to phase out bottom trawling on seamounts. Successive international resolutions, at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress and Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) COP15, have prioritized seamount protection from destructive fishing. Safeguarding these habitats protects an estimated 21% of the global seabed and contributes directly to Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s (GBF) to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030, as well as to the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, also known as the High Seas Treaty, and UN Sustainable Development Goal 14.

Acting now would also set a high-standard precedent for High Seas Treaty implementation, helping to bridge the gap between fragmented regional fisheries management and the integrated governance of the high seas as a whole.