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What Governance for the Ocean? / Interview with Serge Ségura, French Ambassador of the Oceans
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Focus
HIGH SEAS AND THE AREA A NEW ELDORADO?
Gouvernance des Océans / Interview with Serge Ségura, French Ambassador of the Oceans
The Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) designate two maritime areas, with different legal status: - the high seas (water column) are governed by the principle of freedom of navigation, overflight and scientific research; - the Area consists of the seabed situated beyond the continental shelf. Its mineral resources constitute a ‘common heritage of Mankind.
Finally, particular ecosystems - seamounts, hydrothermal springs, cold water coral - possess genetic resources which are attracting increasing interest. Source: “Gouvernance de la haute mer : tout comprendre des prochaines négociations en 10 points”, by Julien Rochette, Glen Wright, Billet de blog, Iddri, 2017.
Ph. Ifremer
The high seas are home to pelagic fishes such as tuna and related species and certain species of shark, and deep sea species: grenadier, blue ling, black scabbard fish.
In certain regions, mineral resources are present in the soil and subsoil, in particular the polymetallic nodules - aggregates of different ores discovered in the 1970s, - and cobalt-rich crusts which contain a range of metals: cobalt, iron, manganese, and so on. The richest deposits are located in Polynesia, and specifically in the French EEZs.
Holothuria (sea cucumber) on a bed of polymetallic nodules in the central North Pacific (photo taken by the submarine Nautile, from the Institut Français pour la Recherche et l’Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), at a depth of 5500m, during the Nodinaut-2004 survey.
Fishes of the deep sea: the blue ling, Molva dypterigia, and the grey grenadier, Macrourus berglax.
Newsletter of the Institut océanographique Paul Ricard - N°16 - 2018
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