New Governance for the Central Arctic Ocean

The Central Arctic Ocean (CAO) is one of the most remote regions on Earth. Located at the top of the world, these international waters are a global commons, a high-seas region where no commercial fishing has been conducted. The CAO is bounded by the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones of five Arctic Ocean coastal states (Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Norway, Russia, and the United States). The five national boundaries create a “donut hole” within the Arctic Ocean of approximately 1.08 million square miles, an area slightly larger than the Mediterranean Sea. A majority of the CAO’s area lies north of the continental shelves that surround the basin.