standardization of environmental data and information - International ...

1.3. Importance of standardization
Because of the great financial and logistical difficulties of studying
the deep ocean, the broad geographical scales of potential mining impacts
and the limited nature of the deep-sea ecological database, it is critical that
environmental studies of nodule-mining impacts should collect and report
data using standardized approaches. This will allow comparison of baseline
and impact assessments from contractors from a variety of countries,
working in far-flung claim areas and at disparate times. It should facilitate
development of a broad synthetic view of open-ocean ecology and nodulemining
impacts, which will aid substantially in sound management of the
environmental impacts of commercial mining.
It is worth noting that similar standardization concerns have been
addressed in all large-scale international oceanographic research programs
such as the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) and the World Ocean
Circulation Experiment (WOCE). In these programmes, common sampling,
sample-processing and data-reporting protocols have been adopted, and
intercalibration studies have been conducted to ensure standardization 85 .
Thus, while standardization issues for the collection of
environmental data may appear mundane, their resolution is essential to
international cooperation and collaboration, and to obtaining a broad
synthetic view of the potential environmental impacts of seafloor nodule
mining.
1.4. Levels of technology
Acquisition of oceanographic data has often been limited by
technology, with major breakthroughs in understanding following
technological innovations. Examples include: (1) recognition of the
prevalence and speed of carrion scavenging at the deep-sea floor following
development of the “monster camera” 96 ; (2) the discovery of extraordinary
deep-sea species diversity after development of the epibenthic sled 107 ; (3)
enhanced appreciation of the importance of fronts, eddies, and other mesoand
synoptic-scale oceanographic features to phytoplankton blooms and
fishery exploitation following developments in remote sensing (e.g., satellite
imagery). Thus, in conducting environmental studies for nodule exploration,
there is strong motivation to use the best available technology to collect the
highest quality data.
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 54