McInnes Cooper lawyers are internationally recognized for their experience and knowledge in many areas, including the extraction of resources from international waters. Seabed mining – the recovery of mineral resources from the ocean floor – has a hybrid character: it's both an industrial and a maritime activity. This hybrid character creates uncertainty around what legal regime governs it for what purposes.
In their article, Seabed Mining and the application of Maritime Law Concepts, as published in LawyerIssue on July 11, 2016 (PDF version here), McInnes Cooper counsel Wylie Spicer and articled clerk Peter L'Esperance dive into this uncertainty and suggest that as seabed mining evolves as a maritime industrial activity, clarity in the applicable legal regime will be a necessary pre-condition for both commercial certainty and investment and to safeguard the core values of maritime law: protection of the life, property and environment at sea.
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