If ratified by Congress, it will grant a Kingston, Jamaica-based International Seabed Authority (ISA) the power to regulate deep-sea oil exploration, seabed mining, and fishing rights.

FORBES: Move up http://i.forbesimg.com t Move down

If approved, it will grant a Kingston, Jamaica-based International Seabed Authority (ISA) the power to regulate deep-sea oil exploration, and seabed mining.

FORBES: Move up http://i.forbesimg.com t Move down

Sea water is pumped into the oil-bearing rocks deep below the seabed.

BBC: BP unveils new technology to boost oil production

In this highly competitive and sometimes harsh environment, marine species have had to develop strategies for survival, such as resistance to the toxicity, extreme temperature, hyper-salinity and pressure that characterize the deep seabed.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

This article is based on a report co-authored by Salvatore Arico and Charlotte Salpin and published in 2005 by the Institute of Advanced Study of the United Nations University, entitled Bio-prospecting of Genetic Resources in the Deep Seabed.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

But many marine scientists and conservationists have warned that the implications of this deep-sea gold rush are not yet understood - and that mining nodules or hydrothermal vents could prove catastrophic for seabed ecology.

BBC: UK Seabed Resources joins deep-ocean mineral-mining rush

While other attempts are planned to block the hole, it is probable that oil will continue to pour from it for another couple of months, until relief wells are drilled to intersect and reduce the pressure in the currently flowing well and cut-off the leakage of perhaps 50 million barrels of oil contained there by the injection of concrete deep into the seabed.

FORBES: Blame Big Bad BP For Now, but Where Is the Next Oil to Come From?