PROSPECTS - International Seabed Authority

Kaplan Fund Project: International Collaboration ● 41
western station, so we still need additional ship time to complete this project. Anticipated
additional support for the Kaplan Project includes a second increment from the Kaplan
Foundation. We also hope to have the opportunity to use ship time from IFREMER. IFREMER
is planning to have a field programme in the nodule province area in the Pacific in 2004. We
may be able to sample the central and western sites during that cruise. There may also be ship
time or other resources from other groups that potentially might be contributing to the Kaplan
Project. Finally, we may generate a proposal for additional funds from the Global
Environmental Facility. This is one of the points of discussion we plan to have at this
workshop.
As mentioned earlier, additional collaborations are extremely welcome to participate in
the project. For example, we could set up a programme and perhaps get some resources to
facilitate traineeships in taxonomy, molecular genetic, and ecology. The Kaplan Project can
serve a function or play an important role in providing traineeship to scientists from other
countries, from contractors, and from developing countries.
Another area of collaboration, which is very important, is taxonomic inter‐calibration
and training workshops. It would be very beneficial to the Kaplan Project and to the
contractors if we could merge the standardized taxonomy that is being used in studying deepsea
biology in the deep Pacific Ocean. The faunal groups that are being addressed by the
Kaplan Project are important, but they are limited. They do not include all the major biological
components in the nodule ecosystems. For example, we are not able to include the megafauna
and are hoping that through additional collaborations we can include megafaunal components.
Dr. Gerd Schriever will be talking about this a little bit later in the workshop.
Benefits of the Kaplan Project
To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, instead of asking what you can do for the Kaplan
Project, perhaps we should ask what the Kaplan Project could do for you. What benefits does
the Kaplan Project provide to the contractors? The Kaplan Project is conceived to provide
benefit to the contractors and to the general scientific community from a number of
perspectives. First, the Kaplan Project will provide insights into species ranges and biodiversity
levels in the Clarion‐Clipperton Fracture Zone.
Why is this of benefit to the contractors? It provides insights into how we need to
structure preservation reference areas or reserves that are designed to protect and preserve
biodiversity in the nodule province. I believe that what we are likely to find is that most of the
species in the nodule province are very broadly distributed. They are distributed throughout
the zone. If that is the case, that might mean that we only need to have perhaps two
preservation reference areas, one at each end of the nodule province, rather than having each
contractor set up and monitor a preservation reference area in association with their mining
activities. Potentially, this could be a big savings in terms of sampling and ship time for the
contractor. By better understanding the biodiversity, we can more effectively design
programmes to protect it. If we know nothing about biodiversity, then we need to take a very