Azores government signs new Hamilton Declaration on Sargasso Sea
Azores GuideThe declaration seeks international political support for area-based management measures to conserve the ecologically important North Atlantic ecosystem.
The Azores Government signed the second Hamilton Declaration on Monday in Bermuda, strengthening international cooperation to protect the Sargasso Sea. Regional Secretary for the Sea and Fisheries Mário Rui Pinho represented the regional executive at the ceremony.
The new declaration aims to mobilise international political support for a joint proposal for area-based management instruments to conserve the Sargasso Sea, an ecologically and biologically important marine ecosystem in the middle of the North Atlantic. The initiative will be developed under the Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, also known as the High Seas Treaty, which entered into force in January 2026.
Pinho said the signing creates an opportunity to move towards effective protection of the Sargasso Sea through international cooperation and scientific knowledge developed in recent years. The Azores were among the five founding signatories of the first Hamilton Declaration in 2014, alongside Bermuda, Monaco, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
According to the Regional Government, that commitment led to the creation of the Sargasso Sea Commission, which works with signatory governments on international cooperation and scientific knowledge about the ecosystem. The government said the commission's work, including scientific knowledge produced in the Azores, has improved understanding of the sea's ecological characteristics and identified the main threats to its biodiversity, providing a basis for future conservation measures.
The Azores Government has followed the process from its beginning and took part in drafting the new declaration in September 2025. Pinho said the region's marine-conservation experience, recently strengthened by the new Azores Marine Park, shows international commitments can be turned into concrete ocean-protection measures.
This site previously reported that PAN/Açores proposed stronger Sargasso Sea protection.
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Azores Guide
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