In November 2025, Australia’s national science agency CSIRO signed a letter of cooperation with the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
The letter signals CSIRO’s commitment to working with this important regulatory agency. The five-year-agreement aims to help facilitate marine scientific research to better understand deep-sea ecosystems.
The agreement outlines that participants will:
- carry out long-term scientific research activities of mutual interest
- invite each other’s representatives to attend and participate in meetings and workshops as appropriate and share technical capacities
ISA is an autonomous intergovernmental organisation established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 1994 Agreement on its implementation. It is headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica, and currently has 170 members, including 169 countries and the European Union.
The ISA organizes, regulates, and controls all mineral-related activities in the international seabed area beyond national jurisdictions, known as “The Area”. The Area covers around 54 per cent of the total area of the world’s oceans. ISA has the mandate to ensure the effective protection of this marine environment from harmful effects that may arise from deep-seabed-related activities.
One of the first projects CSIRO will undertake, following the recent signing of the agreement, is to review methodologies of cumulative impacts assessment in marine ecosystems with a special focus on areas beyond national jurisdiction. This extends on work CSIRO has facilitated in the development of scientific understanding of cumulative impacts for the Regional Environmental Management Plans for the Indian, Mid Atlantic Ridge and North West Pacific.
The latest important collaboration with ISA follows, CSIRO’s recent project- the Integrated Ecosystem Assessment and Ecosystem-Based Management Framework for Polymetallic Nodule Collection.
CSIRO led a research consortium that developed an Integrated Ecosystem Assessment and Ecosystem Based Management Framework for Polymetallic Nodule Collection Activities. The research was commissioned by The Metals Company Australia Pty Ltd (TMC) and through agreement was made publicly available on this site and through scientific journal publications.
Using an ecosystem-based management (EBM) framework, the project delivered a series of technical reports that reflects the steps undertaken in an EBM framework.
This research supported ISA in the management of the Area and Marine Scientific Research conducted under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
