• Foreign Min. formulating enabling domestic legislation to implement the same in consultation with stakeholders including inter-Ministerial comm.

Following Sri Lanka’s ratification of the Agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) also known as the High Seas Treaty, the country will need to identify what is important to it in relation to ocean governance, retired Naval and hydropgraphy experts in the maritime sector said.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (21), sources who wished to remain anonymous said that the Attorney General’s Department is reviewing the existing legal framework to determine what additional measures may be required to strengthen Sri Lanka’s maritime laws. However, they stressed that there is no requirement for any special or immediate action by Sri Lanka following the enforcement of the Agreement. The sources noted that several discussions have already taken place on the Agreement.

Several attempts to contact the Marine Environment Protection Authority in this regard were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the Director General of the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Department, when contacted, said that he is not aware of the details of the Agreement or the country’s actions following its ratification.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said that Sri Lanka ratified the BBNJ Agreement on 16 September of last year (2025), becoming the 58th State Party to this historic UN Convention. A spokesperson for the Ministry, speaking to The Daily Morning, said that the Agreement strengthens Sri Lanka’s role in promoting the fair and equitable sharing of marine genetic resources, protecting biodiversity in the high seas, building climate resilience, advancing Sustainable Development Goals, securing capacity building and marine technology transfer, and championing the rights of developing countries in global ocean governance. The Ocean Affairs, Environment and Climate Change Division and the Legal Division of the Ministry are currently formulating legislation to implement the agreement in consultation with the stakeholders. An inter-Ministerial committee is convened regularly for this purpose, he added.