standardization of environmental data and information - International ...

Another participant thought that the inputs to the Workshop could
be useful in designing a mining system with a reduced environmental
impact.
Standardization
Asked about his suggestions regarding minimum sampling areas,
Schriever said he had advanced them as ideas for possible inclusion in a
framework for standardization of methods, analysis and sampling, which
could become part of the mining code or just something to be followed by
each contractor so that the data collected in the various claim areas could
be compared.
Recovery time
If it had taken seven years for the ecosystem to repair itself after
the DISCOL experiment, a questioner asked, how many years would be
needed after real mining? Second, had any new methodology been
developed to reduce the restoration period?
Schriever responded that restoration of the area had not been
completed after seven years. He did not have any more data because
funding had stopped and the experiment had not proceeded. He would like
very much to return to the area again to see its present condition.
The DISCOL researchers had discussed at length whether what had
occurred was a recolonisation or a recreation of the community. Soft
mining systems would probably have a low impact and not all the animals
would be killed; some would be transported away by the current or they
would return to the sediment in the mined area, where they might survive.
He thought that recolonisation or recreation of the fauna would also depend
on the size of the mined area. For example, if topography were to limit
mining in the Korean claim area to 30-50 square kilometres, or 5 by 6-10
km, recolonisation from the surrounding unmined areas could occur quickly,
as the distance to the centre of the mined areas would be just 3-5 km.
He cautioned, nevertheless, that neither DISCOL nor the other BIEs
had operated on a scale large enough to justify predictions about future
mining. Another speaker agreed, stating that extrapolation from the
experiments was impossible mainly because nobody knew what sort of
mining system would be employed.
360 INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY