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11 th International Symposium for GIS and Computer Cartography for Coastal Zones Managementseas: a legally binding agreement under UNCLOS, and regional multi-lateral agreements. Some argue that anagreement to implement and update the general environment provisions under UNCLOS would be the more effective(Gjerde, 2012). As with a prior UNCLOS implementing agreement for straddling and highly migratory fishstocks (UN Fish Stocks Agreement), this approach could operationalize management principles such as ecosystembasedand precautionary management. It could set explicit goals, objectives and targets for protection of biodiversityand the marine environment alongside sustainable use of resources, designate responsible organizations to implementtools such as MPAs and cumulative impact assessments on the basis of a systematic approach. It need notreplace existing sectoral or regional organizations, rather it could establish a conference of parties and secretariat tofacilitate coordination, enhance coherence and promote compliance through global level review and assistance. Inshort, it could establish the balancing mechanism for decision-making that is currently lacking, and the legal mandateand procedure for incorporating a systematic approach into management planning and decision making. Asscientific input is vital, a new agreement could designate or create a science body to inform the systematic planningefforts.However, implementation of a new international agreement is likely to be time consuming, and most progress todate has been made within specific regions, such as in the Northeast Atlantic and the Southern Ocean (see next section)(Druel et al., 2012). Thus another avenue for working towards conservation and sustainable use in the highseas is through existing regional efforts. The Northeast Atlantic provides an illustration of how progress has beenmade in regions. In this region, six high seas MPAs were established in 2010 through the unanimous agreement ofthe Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic(OSPAR) (O'Leary et al., 2012).Figure 1. Marine protected areas (MPAs) and fishing closures. The closures depicted might be incomplete because no databaseof closures currently exists. Acronyms are as follows: marine protected area (MPA), Convention on the Conservation of AntarcticMarine Living Resources (CCAMLR), Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Management Organization (NAFO), North East AtlanticFisheries Commission (NEAFC), South East Atlantic Fisheries Organization (SEAFO), South Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement(SIOFA), Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), Western and CentralPacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC). 200 nm data were obtained from the VLIZ Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase189