Crossing the Sectoral Divide: Modern Environmental Law Tools for Addressing Conflicting Uses on the Seabed

The oceans are becoming increasingly crowded. They are the venue for a vast range of human activities including merchant shipping, fishing, seabed mining, construction of artificial islands, undersea cables and pipelines, production of renewable energy, marine scientific research, and military uses. However, this complex, multidimensional and multi-faceted environment also provides a whole range of ecosystem services for humans, ranging from climate modulation and CO2 absorption to provision of food stuffs and mineral resources. Because of the fluid nature of the ocean medium, activities on and under the seabed, such as seabed mining or cable laying, interact with the water column, while activities on or in the water column, such as bottomtrawling, may also interact with the seabed. In other words, all ocean uses interact with the marine environment. Thus, existing and emerging ocean uses can pose serious threats to the marine environment from, among other things, over-exploitation and pollution. Seabed activities, in particular, pose complex threats due to the perturbation of marine biodiversity and the water column caused by construction, exploration or exploitation activities. Even apart from pollution emergencies such as that caused by the Deep-Water Horizon incident, seabed mining may destroy critical fish habitat or interfere with submarine cables. Bottom-trawling may interfere with submarine cables or destroy critical habitat for a range of sedentary species and other marine genetic resources. Exploitation of marine genetic resources may destroy critical marine biodiversity or interfere with ocean energy development and production. Increasingly, the varying demands on ocean space and resources are leading to conflict between both existing sectors such as shipping and fishing and between existing and emerging sectors including seabed mining, ecotourism and marine renewable energy. This increasing competition is also leading to increasing pressures on the marine environment.