Bioprospecting and the genetic resources of hydrothermal vents on the high seas. What is the existing legal position? Where are we heading and what are our options?

摘要

For many thousands of years humanity's attitude to the deep sea was shaped largely by myth and fuelled by ignorance. Across recorded history, across all cultures and continents, humanity has traditionally characterized the deep sea as an evil foreboding place (Sweeney 1972). Throughout time one word has been used to describe the deep sea more than any other. That word, "resonating with sinister energy" is the "abyss" from the Greek words a, without, and byssos, bottom - a synonym for dark infinitiesand primal chaos. It was unknown and unknowable, unconnected to anything remotely human (Broad 1997). It was the home of sea monsters.