Three conservation experts have been appointed to serve on the Sargasso Sea Commission.

Elizabeth McLanahan and Cassander Titley-O'Neal joined the organisation for the first time while Murray Roberts returned for a second three-year term.

With five others, they will undertake the commission’s mandate of conserving the Sargasso Sea's high-seas ecosystem.

The group’s increase in numbers to eight follows the conclusion of service by former commissioner Rochelle Newbold, whose term has ended, a government spokesman said.

Ms McLanahan earlier served as the Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of International Affairs and served as a Hamilton Declaration focal point for the United States until her retirement in 2025.

Dr Titley-O'Neal is the Director of the National Parks Trust of the Virgin Islands, where she oversees the trust’s operations and manages 21 national parks.

Professor Roberts is a professor of applied marine biology and ecology at the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, where he focuses on the deep sea.

The spokesman said: “The Government has championed the conservation of this iconic high seas area under the Hamilton Declaration on Collaboration for the Conservation of the Sargasso Sea for over a decade.

“The voluntary declaration brings together representatives from ten signatory governments and a panel of scientific expert commissioners working in their independent capacities to strengthen the stewardship of the Sargasso Sea.”

Jaché Adams, the Minister of Public Works and Environment, added: “The Sargasso Sea is located in the high seas, but the benefits of protecting this ecosystem extend to our inshore waters and our island.

“The Bermuda Government is proud to strengthen the stewardship of the Sargasso Sea through its support of the commission’s work plan and role in appointing expert Sargasso Sea commissioners.”

An agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction — also known as the BBNJ Agreement — was finalised in 2023.

It is scheduled to come into force in January to provide new pathways to conservation for the Sargasso Sea.

The agreement would allow for international, legally binding marine protected areas to be established on the high seas for the first time.

David Freestone, the executive secretary of the Sargasso Sea Commission, said: “The Sargasso Sea is already being held up as a premier site to pioneer the new conservation regime established by the 2023 UN BBNJ Agreement.”

He added: “With a robust science case now complete, we look forward to collaborating with Sargasso Sea stakeholders to create a conservation plan for the area, which could include a proposal for the conservation of the Sargasso Sea to the BBNJ COP [conference of the parties].”

Funded by the Global Environment Facility and the French Facility for Global Environment, the commission recently completed a first draft socio-ecosystem diagnostic analysis for the Sargasso Sea.

The document lays out the ecological and economic importance of the Sargasso Sea, as well as the human pressures it faces.

It will form the factual basis for discussion of a strategic action programme for the ecosystem, which requisite stakeholders will endorse, the spokesman said.