On Saturday, March 4th, after more than 20 years in the making, nearly 200 countries agreed to protect marine life in international waters. The “High Seas Treaty” was developed to establish and manage marine protected areas in order to protect the ocean’s biodiversity. It also sets out a framework for environmental assessments to evaluate the potential damage of commercial activities, such as deep-sea mining, before they are undertaken.

International waters include everything that lies 200 nautical miles beyond countries’ territorial waters. This translates to more than 60% of the world’s oceans by surface area. Currently a little over 1% of international waters are protected, making this agreement historic. This treaty is vital to achieving a goal of conserving or protecting at least 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030 as pledged during the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal in December. Although completed, each country must formally adopt and ratify the treaty.

Deep Sea Mining

As we tap the world’s natural resources on land, companies are turning to the ocean floor for development. According to the US Geological Survey, more than 21 billion tons of polymetallic nodules lie in a single region of the Pacific, containing more metals (such as nickel and cobalt) than can be found in all the world’s dryland deposits. Some sea-mining companies believe that it will be cheaper, and less destructive to mine the sea than land. However, without environmental assessments, no one really knows the impact on biodiversity and food chain.

Environmental Assessment

Scientists and engineers utilize and array of tools and technologies to support comprehensive environmental assessments. These include methods to characterize and monitor seafloor ecosystems, water quality, and the acoustic environment. One example is using sediment profile and plan view imaging (SPI–PV) to map the seafloor benthos. SPI–PV is a cost-effective way help demonstrate physical, geochemical, and biological seafloor conditions. The high-resolution SPI–PV camera captures collocated images of the upper sediment column in profile and seabed in plan view. Utilizing this information scientists and engineers can assess and monitor potential ecosystem changes at seafloor.

References: The Mining Industry’s Next Frontier Is Deep, Deep Under the Sea | WIRED

Countries agree historic oceans treaty to protect the high seas | CNN