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On March 4, United Nations (U.N.) member countries agreed on a treaty that will protect marine life in the high seas. These are ocean waters outside of all national boundaries. The treaty will protect 30% of the world’s oceans—nearly half of the planet’s surface. More money will go toward conservation of those areas.

The treaty is “a historic and overwhelming success for international marine protection,” says Steffi Lemke, Germany’s environmental minister. “For the first time, we are getting a binding agreement for the high seas, which until now have hardly been protected.”

For years, the high seas have suffered because of commercial fishing, mining, and the chemicals and plastics that pollute the water. All of these harm dolphins, whales, and fish species that migrate through the high seas. The treaty is intended to protect these animals, as well as coastal biodiversity and the economies that depend on it.

Malin Pinsky, a biologist at Rutgers University, hails the U.N. agreement. “The ocean is not a limitless resource,” he says, “and it requires global cooperation to use the ocean sustainably.”