The Global Ocean Commission was an international initiative between 2013 and 2016 to raise awareness, and promote action to address, the degradation of the ocean and help restore it to full health and productivity. Its focus was on the high seas, the vast ocean areas that lie beyond the Exclusive Economic Zones of individual states. The Commission originated as an initiative of the Pew Charitable Trust, in partnership with Somerville College at the University of Oxford It launched in February 2013 and delivered its final report in February 2016. The Commission included senior political figures, business leaders and development specialists, and consulted and collaborated widely with a diverse group of constituencies, including ocean users, governments, scientists, economists, business leade