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As governments meet from 9–20 March in Kingston, Jamaica for the International Seabed Authority’s (ISA) Council session, they confront a defining question for global ocean governance: will the ISA uphold its mandate to protect the common heritage of humankind or rush to open the deep ocean to an irreversibly damaging industry?
As the European Commission shapes its new Ocean Act, we have an opportunity to turn commitments into real action to defend the deep. With biodiversity loss accelerating, the climate crisis intensifying and industrial pressure on the deep sea growing, from bottom trawling to deep-sea mining and geoengineering, the Act must go beyond words and deliver in practice. The DSCC has submitted recommendations urging that precaution, coherence, and implementation sit at the heart of the 2026 Act, a key deliverable of the European Ocean Pact launched at the 2025 UN Ocean Conference in Nice.
New Zealand - the only country still bottom trawling on seamounts of the South Pacific high seas - has submitted a proposal which would significantly increase the amount of coral and other deep-sea species that can be destroyed as bycatch without consequence. The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition’s members have written to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon demanding the immediate withdrawal of the proposal.
The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) strongly condemns The Metals Company’s (TMC) attempt to fast-track deep-sea mining through a unilateral U.S. permitting process in international waters, attempting to undermine the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and bypass ongoing multilateral negotiations at the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
On Saturday 17 January 2026, the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement - or High Seas Treaty - will enter into force, marking a major milestone in international ocean governance and introducing new tools to safeguard the deep ocean’s extraordinary life and the critical services it provides.
In this Knowledge Hub feature, Viliame Kasanawaqa, a Doctoral Researcher at the Macmillan Brown Centre of Pacific Studies at the University of Canterbury, examines how Pacific Peoples understand and relate to the deep ocean, and what is at stake as deep-sea mining advances.
Kristina M Gjerde, founding member of the DSCC, mother of the High Seas and protector of the deep ocean died on December 26th 2025.
This year saw the DSCC connecting with ocean scientists around the world, making great leaps forward for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, painting vibrant murals to bring seamounts to life, paddling the shores in protest against deep-sea mining, and much more. Here’s a look at what the DSCC and deep-sea community did in 2025.
Japan is world-renowned for its rich seafood culture and focus on premium quality fish and shellfish. But, as technology evolves and consumers demand more transparency on how it is procured, Japan faces a critical turning point.
The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) welcomes the decision by the Norwegian Parliament to stop all plans for deep-sea mining in Arctic waters until the current parliamentary period ends in fall 2029.