Commercial deep-sea mining hasn’t yet begun, but it soon could — with the potential to reshape vast stretches of the ocean as companies move to extract minerals from the seafloor. However, this nascent industry lacks a set of international rules to govern it, and a recent meeting of the regulatory body charged with drafting one has adjourned with big gaps remaining.  Leticia Carvalho, Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the UN-associated deep-sea mining regulator, has stressed the importance of completing the rules to govern seabed exploitation — known as the mining code — by the end of this year. Completing this task has become a critical test for the ISA since the U.S., which is not a member state of the ISA, fast-tracked deep-sea mining plans with apparent disregard for international law. Completing the mining code would ultimately make the U.S. “a less attractive option for companies” by making any moves to mine outside of ISA regulations “highly problematic,” Carvalho said at a press briefing in response to a question from Mongabay.  “I continue to be very confident and trust that this year there will be great progress … of the mining code that will take the International Seabed Authority from the era of exploration to the era of exploitation of mineral resources in the deep sea,” Carvalho said. However, the meeting closed on Mar. 19 without a clear timeline for finishing the mining code. Pradeep Singh of Lisbon-based ocean conservation non-profit Oceano Azul, who attended the ISA meeting…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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