24 March, 2021

Seamounts are fragile and biologically diverse marine ecosystems that are vulnerable to deep-sea fisheries activities and, increasingly, other human impacts.

This briefing examines the current state of seamount science and protection. It summarizes who continues to fish in these unique habitats and presents a case for urgent and intensified political action to protect these biodiversity hotspots.

21 January, 2021

The 9th Meeting of the SPRFMO Commission and 8th Compliance and Technical Committee Meeting are to be held remotely from 21 January-3 February 2021.

Briefing Paper

Interventions:

15 October, 2020

The ISA has issued three sets of draft guidelines and standards for deep-sea mining for public comment. These are the ‘Draft guideline on the preparation and assessment of an application for the approval of a Plan of Work for exploitation’; the ‘Draft standard and guidelines on the development and application of environmental management systems’; and the ‘Draft standard and guidelines on the form and calculation of an environmental performance guarantee’.

Below is the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition comments on these draft guidelines and standards.

23 July, 2020

Mining of the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction, known as the Area, is administered by the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and may be carried out by a contractor sponsored by a State Party. It is vital that States consider the complex legal risks, responsibilities and potential liability for damage that can arise from the sponsorship of seabed mining activities in the Area | Author: Duncan Currie LL.B. (Hons.) LL.M