W-FEB - COMRA- sea bed exploration

·         China on Friday signed a long-expected contract, which has drawn much attention in Indian strategic circles, under which the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association (COMRA) will get exclusive rights to explore 10,000 square-km of seabed in the southwest Indian Ocean in an area off the coast of Africa, state media reported.

·         Under the deal with the International Seabed Authority (ISA), COMRA can explore polymetallic sulphide ore deposits in the region over the next 15 years.

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·         COMRA will have to give up 75 per cent of the region within 10 years, following which it will have pre-emptive rights to mine the remaining area, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. The deal also requires China to fulfil certain environmental obligations and monitoring.

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·         In India, the deal has drawn attention on account of a Chinese firm gaining access to the Indian Ocean, with reports saying the Directorate of Naval Intelligence had expressed concern that COMRA's access could have strategic implications for India's security.

·         Analysts in India have also seen the deal as a reflection of India's own failure to be more proactive in better utilising mining exploration rights in the Indian Ocean, thereby giving space for other countries.

·         Chinese officials and analysts, however, say that Indian the concerns are misplaced. They say China has been given permission for exploratory activities only and in a region closer to the African coast.

·         China – like any country – was well within its rights to apply to the ISA for access to the region, the officials said. “According to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea

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The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea treaty, is the international agreement that resulted from

·         the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), which took place from 1973 through 1982.

·         The Law of the Sea Convention defines the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.

·         The Convention, concluded in 1982, replaced four 1958 treaties.

·          UNCLOS came into force in 1994,

·         To date, 162 countries and the European Community have joined in the Convention..

While the Secretary General of the United Nations receives instruments of ratification and accession and the UN provides support for meetings of states party to the Convention,

the UN has no direct operational role in the implementation of the Convention.



There is, however, a role played by organizations such as the International Maritime Organization, the International Whaling Commission, and the International Seabed Authority (the latter being established by the UN Convention).


The International Seabed Authority (ISA) (French: Autorité internationale des fonds marins, Spanish: Autoridad Internacional de los Fondos Marinos)

•  is an intergovernmental body based in Kingston, Jamaica, that was established to organize and control all mineral-related activities in the international seabed area beyond the limits of national jurisdiction,
•  an area underlying most of the world’s oceans.