In a new book titled The Only Flag Worth Flying, conservationist Paul Watson and legal scholar Sarah Levy argue that legislation alone will not be enough to halt escalating damage to marine ecosystems. Watson, an early member of Greenpeace and founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, promotes what he calls aggressive non violent direct action and is currently wanted by Japan, while Levy is a researcher at the Centre for Socio Legal Studies at the University of Oxford and a member of the Bar of Ontario.
The authors contend that the rapid warming of the ocean, driven by climate change, is already fuelling extreme weather and placing marine life under mounting stress. They highlight compounding pressures including acidification, pollution, plastics and industrial activities such as deep sea mining, and question whether existing legal frameworks can keep pace with these threats.
Although international environmental law has expanded over recent decades, Levy notes that its impact is constrained by the way the global system is structured. She explains that most treaties depend on state consent, domestic implementation and political will, with no centralised authority empowered to enforce rules on the high seas where jurisdiction is diffuse.
The book points to a growing web of agreements, including the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Despite this proliferation, the authors argue that real world enforcement still hinges on individual governments, many of which lack capacity or motivation to act against powerful economic interests.
In this context, Levy and Watson maintain that direct action has become a necessary tool to uphold conservation norms when states fail to intervene. They cite tactics such as interfering with whaling operations, cutting fishing nets and boarding vessels or oil rigs as examples of interventions designed to disrupt activities they see as harmful or unlawful.
According to the authors, such actions represent a form of principled resistance rather than simple defiance of the law. They argue that when legal protections exist on paper but are abandoned in practice, resistance becomes a duty and intervention a necessity to prevent ongoing harm to shared marine resources.
The High Seas Treaty, which took effect on 17 January 2026, is a particular focus of their critique. They ask what practical benefit the agreement offers for marine ecosystems if no effective enforcement follows, warning that without on the water action it risks remaining a piece of paper while economic anarchy continues on the high seas.
Watson and Levy frame the high seas as a global commons that belongs to no one and everyone, suggesting that the responsibility to defend these waters may be diffuse as well. In their view, the absence of a global enforcement authority opens space for non state actors to step in to uphold conservation principles where governments fall short.
The book raises broader questions about who has the legitimacy to enforce environmental norms beyond national jurisdictions and how far direct action should go. By challenging readers to consider both the promise and the limits of international law, the authors invite renewed discussion about the mix of tools needed to protect ocean life in an era of accelerating change.
Research Report:The Only Flag Worth Flying: Direct Action and the Enforcement of International Marine Conservation Law
Related Links
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics
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