standardization of environmental data and information - International ...

oceans and what they needed to know about the environmental impact of
mining.
Another note was struck by a scientist from a programme that had
developed an innovative and more environmentally friendly type of nodulecollecting
device. He pointed out that engineers could use environmental
information in the design of their equipment and systems.
Environmental monitoring: What?
Most of the parameters to be monitored had already been listed by
the Legal and Technical Commission in an explanatory commentary
annexed to its environmental assessment recommendations. The working
groups added precision to this list, specifying what ought to be sampled to
ascertain chemical and geological conditions (sediment properties,
sediment pore waters, water-column properties, trace metals in organisms);
biological and habitat conditions (megafauna, macrofauna, meiofauna,
microbial biomass, nodule fauna, demersal scavengers, habitat quality,
sedimentation, bioturbation), and water-column conditions. The watercolumn
group produced two lists, of basic oceanographic variables that all
contractors should routinely monitor and optional variables that can provide
further useful information.
Environmental monitoring: How?
Methods used to measure environmental variables are a key area
for standardization, in the view of Workshop participants. Specific
measurement techniques, sometimes with alternatives, are listed for each
parameter in the working group reports. Rather than trying to devise new
protocols laying out such procedures in detail, however, the Workshop
suggested that existing protocols for oceanographic research be followed,
notably those devised by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
(IOC) 6 .
As most ocean-related research has concentrated on the surface
and upper waters, the participants acknowledged the lack of widely
accepted procedures specifically directed toward deep-water studies.
Accordingly, it recommended that the Authority organize workshops to
develop environmental measurement standards where they do not exist.
One example cited was sediment properties, for which parameters such as
grain size and density are difficult to quantify.
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 17