ISO 23730:2022

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 23730
First edition
2022-04
Marine technology — Marine
environment impact assessment
(MEIA) — General technical
requirements
Reference number
ISO 23730:2022(E)
© ISO 2022

---------------------- Page: 1 ----------------------
ISO 23730:2022(E)
COPYRIGHT PROTECTED DOCUMENT
© ISO 2022
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on
the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below
or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii
  © ISO 2022 – All rights reserved

---------------------- Page: 2 ----------------------
ISO 23730:2022(E)
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 General principles . 1
5 Technical guidance .2
5.1 Cost-effective operation . 2
5.2 Habitat mapping . 2
5.3 Estimation of impacts . 2
5.4 Estimation of resilience . 3
5 . 5 Mon it or i n g . 3
Annex A (informative) Comparison between conventional and new strategic MEIA
processes . 4
Bibliography . 5
iii
© ISO 2022 – All rights reserved

---------------------- Page: 3 ----------------------
ISO 23730:2022(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to
the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see
www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 8 Ships and marine technology,
Subcommittee SC 13, Marine technology.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.
iv
  © ISO 2022 – All rights reserved

---------------------- Page: 4 ----------------------
ISO 23730:2022(E)
Introduction
Deep-sea environments are faced with cumulative effects of many human activities, such as ocean
acidification, waste deposition, oil exploitation, fishing, maritime transport, and potential seabed
mining. Criteria to manage marine environmental conditions, including offshore and deep-sea areas,
have been proposed by agencies of the United Nations. These suggested criteria include ecologically
and biologically significant areas (EBSAs) by the Convention for Biological Diversity; vulnerable
marine ecosystems (VMEs) by the Food and Agriculture Organization; and particularly sensitive sea
[1]
areas (PSSAs) by the International Maritime Organization . The Commission of the International
Seabed Authority (ISA) has published recommendations for the guidance on environmental impact
assessments (EIA) for seabed mining in the Area, for use by countries which have any deep-sea mining
contracts and which recognize the primary importance of appropriate performance standards on the
[2,3]
related environmental issues .
Since the mid-1990s, attention has been paid to potential environmental impacts caused by deep-sea
mining. Developing protocols for EIA has been discussed in the meetings conducted by the scientific
[4]
communities and ISA . A practical issue to address is the development of a cost-effective operation for
[5,6]
observation and monitoring in seabed mining sites .
Under these circumstances, this document gives a technical concept and requirements to conduct a
practical marine EIA for exploration and exploitation of mineral resources and in situ monitoring of
deep-sea mining sites.
v
© ISO 2022 – All rights reserved

---------------------- Page: 5 ----------------------
INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 23730:2022(E)
Marine technology — Marine environment impact
assessment (MEIA) — General technical requirements
1 Scope
This document provides general technical guidance for the operation of marine environment impact
assessments (MEIA) to assess the degree of impact of deep-sea activities of exploration and exploitation
for mineral resources to the marine environment. It does not cover matters related to the legal
framework for MEIA and deep-sea activities on energy resources.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1
baseline data
data set used to assess the impacts of post-implementation of a deep-sea activity
3.2
habitat mapping
mapping of the marine habitat by data sets of observations and measures collected from the
environment, providing a tool for ecological research and management of the conservation and
sustainable use of marine resources
3.3
soundscape
marine acoustic environment consisting of natural sounds ranging between 1 Hz and 100 kHz, from
animals, weather and waves, or of anthropogenic origin, that provides a baseline for acoustic ecology
4 General principles
Technical guidance is provided on MEIA for deep-sea mining, in order to conduct operations of deep-
sea survey and monitoring with economic efficiency, and to keep the data quality on assessment. The
MEIA described in this document provide guidance on the following:
— cost effective operation of deep-sea survey and monitoring;
— habitat mapping by baseline data,
— estimation of impacts from seabed mining;
— monitoring of measures for mitigation;
— post-mining monitoring.
1
© ISO 2022 – All rights reserved

---------------------- Page: 6 ----------------------
ISO 23730:2022(E)
5 Technical guidance
5.1 Cost-effective operation
An environmental survey and actual process of MEIA should be planned after the conclusive results
of exploration for mineral deposition site of target ore. Reducing expenditure for deep-sea cruise is an
important issue to make a cost-effective operation plan.
To reduce the cost for exploration ships, the collection of baseline data for MEIA shall start within the
early phase of the exploration cruise, to progress habitat mapping and environmental assessment.
[7,8]
Annex A provides a comparison between conventional and new strategic processes of MEIA .
5.2 Habitat mapping
Geological Information System (GIS) mapping is a common technique to determine the habitat condition
and faunal distribution. The technique using underwater vehicles equipped with an acoustic positioning
[9,10]
system is suitable for the GIS mapping at deep-seafloor .
Sample collection can provide an evidence of faunal distribution and abundance in pinpointed sites. The
[11]
technique on imaging data are useful to collect faunal data in broad areas by underwater vehicles
[12]
and to determine the long-term fluctuation by seafloor observatories .
The habitat mapping shall be employed to analyse the baseline condition of the deep-sea ecosystem. It
provides a reference that should be c
...