Co-Chair Philip Burgess (Australia) called for stimulating discussions on a legal regime for the use of deep sea resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Co-Chair Felipe Paolillo (Uruguay) (above) opened the meeting, noting that consultations on new sustainable uses of the oceans would provide a unique opportunity to learn more about seabed biodiversity.

David Pugh, Chairman of the GMA Group of Experts, presented the composition and mandate of the Group of Experts to produce a document on, inter alia, the scope, outline, capacity building and funding for the GMA.

Qazi Shaukat Fareed, UN System Chief Executives Board for Cooperation, presented the Ocean and Coastal Areas Network (OCAN).

Patricio Bernal, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (IOC/UNESCO), presented the OCAN’s terms of reference.

Roger Jones,  (above right) International Maritime Organization (IMO), stressed the need to clarify the role and responsibilities of flag States, and highlighted relevant IMO initiatives.

Roger Parsons, (above left) International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), presented IHO’s activities related to the production of accu­rate nautical charts and traffic navigational schemes to enhance navigational safety and reduce negative impacts on the marine environment.

Jean-François Pulvenis, (above right) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) , noted the poor implementation of relevant international instruments, and highlighted the FAO’s capacity-building efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Welcoming the establishment of the OCAN, AUSTRALIA underscored that programmes related to marine ecosystems and coral reef management needed to be better coordinated, and noted that governance of the high seas could be a core issue for the meeting’s discussions. Above left: Max Kitchell (Australia).

CANADA stressed the need to consider both emerging and ongoing issues, avoid piecemeal approaches and not create a bureaucratic mechanism.  Above right: Lori Ridgeway (Canada)

Delegates were presented with a documentary on “Volcanoes of the Deep Sea,” describing deep seabed ecosystems.

Peter Rona, Rutgers University, explained that research on the mid-ocean ridge, the largest geographic feature on Earth, has resulted in the discovery of life forms that survive on nutrients produced by microbes through chemosynthesis.
 

Kim Juniper, (above left) Université du Québec à Montréal, presented results of scientific research regarding the deep seabed, including discoveries, applications and conservation issues related to hydro­thermal vents.

Amb. Satya Nandan (above) highlighted that a voluntary code of conduct for hydrothermal vents could be a basis for developing guidelines for other deep seabed activities.