As ocean industrialization accelerates, corporate transparency is increasingly seen as critical to improve governance, yet little is known about how firms disclose their impacts on marine ecosystems. This study addresses that gap through a content analysis of sustainability and annual reports from 75 of the largest companies across 8 sectors of the ocean economy. We examine which impacts are reported, how they are measured and whether firms set related targets. Most companies focus narrowly on energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, with limited attention to more ocean-specific impacts, for which fewer than 25% of firms have metrics and targets. Where measurements are reported, the use of 443 distinct indicators limits comparability and suggests a lack of consensus on what should be disclosed. Amid growing demands for corporate accountability, our findings provide a timely benchmark to support the integration of ocean-specific considerations into reporting frameworks and to guide materiality assessments that better reflect the environmental realities of the ocean economy.

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing threatens the sustainability of fisheries and communities dependent on them. The Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) is a key tool for combatting IUU fishing by foreign fleets, requiring standardized inspections, information sharing, and port denial. Using satellite data, we characterized how PSMA has affected high seas vessel behavior and identify opportunities to strengthen its impact. PSMA adoption has increased travel distances to the nearest ports in States not Party to PSMA and channeled more fishing effort to domestic and PSMA Party ports. However, domestic fishing fleets need greater attention because they constituted 66% of port visits in 2021. Among reflagged vessels, we also found a 30% increase in visits to PSMA ports by vessels shifting to domestic flags after PSMA entered into force, allowing them to avoid PSMA requirements for foreign vessels. Our results highlight the centrality of implementing consistent, effective port State measures across foreign and domestic fleets to address IUU fishing risks.

Global demand for marine sand is on the rise, expanding dredging impacts on biodiversity and often encroaching on marine protected areas. Systems approaches like the metacoupling framework help uncover overlooked impacts and balance resource extraction with biodiversity conservation. This requires addressing knowledge gaps, enhancing accountability, and mainstreaming ecological restoration to reverse biodiversity loss.

Sand and gravel form the bulk of materials used in construction and manufacturing, but their continued extraction poses untenable social-ecological challenges. We argue for two overlooked approaches—sand circularity and sufficiency—to mitigate rising demand while safeguarding the ecological limits and social foundations of sand use in the Anthropocene.

Marine biotechnology is a rapidly growing sector of the ocean economy, but efforts to assess its value, and that of the genetic resources that enable it, remain contentious. Through a comprehensive literature review, we identified 67 distinct valuations of marine genetic resources. We analysed these using the IPBES Values Assessment typology and found a predominance of behaviour-based valuations using economic value indicators to assess monetary benefits from marine drug discovery.

The challenges of achieving just, equitable and sustainable ocean futures require a new type of transdisciplinary and action-oriented science that integrates across disciplines and knowledge systems. Scientists and researchers in academia, industry or government, who contribute to knowledge creation, innovation, and policy development for the ocean, must be empowered with a fresh set of competences. This paper maps the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to enable such a shift. The proposed skillset serves as a foundation for the design and operationalisation of modern training for ocean sustainability and is envisaged to be used by researchers both individually and in teams. It also highlights the potential for career diversification beyond the traditional 'blue jobs' legitimated by existing sectors. To ensure the short-term practical implementation of the competence framework, self-awareness and self-reflection are encouraged among learners and teachers, along with pragmatic actions to overcome barriers to transdisciplinarity. For long-term impact, system interventions will be necessary to improve organisations’ readiness to absorb and valorise researchers trained in this new framework. This will require re-training the current pedagogical workforce as well as reframing existing knowledge systems and incentives.

Marine bioprospecting, which involves the exploration of genetic and biochemical material from marine organisms, can be used towards addressing a broad range of public and environmental health applications such as disease treatment, diagnostics and bioremediation. Marine genetic resources are important reservoirs for such bioprospecting efforts; however, the extent to which they are used commercially for natural product discovery and the marine sources from which they are derived are not well understood. Here we introduce a comprehensive database of marine genes referenced in patent filings, the Marine Bioprospecting Patent database. It includes 92,550 protein-coding sequences associated with 4,779 patent filings, identified by analysing all relevant records from genetic sequence databases. Three companies alone—BASF, IFF and DuPont—included sequences from 949 species (more than half of referenced species with identified marine origin). Microbial life in the deep sea, a vast and remote biome predominantly beyond national jurisdiction, is already attracting substantial economic interest; the top ten patent holders have all filed marine gene patents referencing sequences from deep-sea life. Our findings provide an updated understanding of the marine bioprospecting landscape, contribute to the sustainable use of marine biodiversity and underscore the need for policymakers to ensure stewardship of deep-sea ecosystems.

Transnational companies have substantive impacts on nature: a hallmark of living in the Anthropocene. Understanding these impacts through company provision of information is a precursor to holding them accountable for nature outcomes. The effect of increasing disclosures (of varying quality) is predicated on 'information governance', an approach that uses disclosure requirements to drive company behaviour. However, its efficacy is not guaranteed. We argue that three conditions are required before disclosures have the possibility to shape nature outcomes, namely: (1) radical traceability that links company actions to outcomes in particular settings; (2) developing organizational routines, tools and approaches that translate strategic intent to on-the-ground behaviour; and (3) mobilizing and aligning financial actors with corporate nature ambitions. While disclosure is key to each of these conditions, its limits must be taken into account and it must be nested in governance approaches that shape action, not just reporting.This article is part of the theme issue 'Bringing nature into decision-making'.

A new international agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) was adopted and subsequently opened for signature in September 2023. Yet on average, recent multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) have taken over four years to move from signature to entry into force, while ocean-focused MEAs have taken nearly twice as long. Rapid ratification of the BBNJ Agreement is crucial for multiple reasons, not least to achieve the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework target for 30% of the marine environment to be protected by 2030. It is also vital to fulfill the Agreement’s stated ambition to contribute to a just and equitable future for humankind, considering today’s unprecedented expansion of commercial activities into the ocean.

A central barrier to effective governance and accountability in fisheries is the limited transparency of corporate ownership. Transshipment—the transfer of catches, fuel, parts, or crew between fishing and cargo vessels known as reefers—is often criticized for its opacity and poor governance. Better insight into the beneficial ownership of vessels involved in transshipment and their operational patterns could lead to more effective management. Our study presents a publicly accessible database of reefers’ owners, operators, and flags. We identified 569 individual reefers and found that Russian and Chinese owners control 26 and 20% of the global reefer fleet, respectively. Results also show that 65% of all reefer vessels fly the flags of Russia, Panama, or China. This high level of consolidation suggests considerable leverage for enhancing transparency and governance. Our findings highlight the potential for reforming existing transshipment practices through collaboration among owners, flag states, fishery regulators, and scientists.