A fresh maritime dispute between New Delhi and Colombo appears to be brewing as Sri Lanka objects to India’s plea to the International Seabed Authority (ISA), based in Kingston, Jamaica, for rights to explore cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts in the Afanasy Nikitin Seamount in the Indian Ocean.
Colombo has argued that the area where India wants to explore cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts falls entirely within Sri Lanka’s extended continental shelf claim.
The Sri Lankan government has urged the ISA to refrain from accepting New Delhi’s plea for exploration rights in the Afanasy Nikitin Seamount until the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UN-CLCS) decides on its continental shelf claim. The ISA is “following applicable procedures in this regard and the matter is ongoing,” a spokesperson for Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Sri Lanka’s continental shelf claim also contradicts that of India, which has been pending with the UN-CLCS since 2009. The two neighboring nations have been negotiating to resolve the impasse bilaterally but have made little progress over the past one and a half decades.
The new dispute over the exploration of cobalt-rich crusts began brewing after the recent parliamentary elections in India saw the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party rekindling the controversy over Katchatheevu Island and blaming the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for ‘ceding’ it to Sri Lanka, allegedly sacrificing the interests of Tamil Nadu fishermen.
The Earth System Science Organization (ESSO), an autonomous institute under India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences, submitted an application to the ISA secretary-general on January 18, 2024, seeking approval for a 15-year exploration plan for cobalt-rich ferromanganese at the Afanasy Nikitin Seamount in the central Indian Ocean.
New Delhi moved the ISA for exploration rights in response to increasing forays by Chinese People’s Liberation Army research vessels in the Indian Ocean region.
The ESSO deposited an application fee of $500,000 to the ISA – an autonomous international organization established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to authorize and control the exploration of mineral deposits in the international seabed.
The Afanasy Nikitin Seamount is a 400-kilometre-long and 150-kilometre-wide undersea mountainous feature in the equatorial Indian Ocean. It comprises a main plateau rising 1200 meters above the surrounding ocean floor at a depth of 4800 meters and secondary elevated seamount highs, two of which lie at 1600 meters and 2050 meters water depths.
The total area New Delhi seeks to explore spans 3,000 sq. km and consists of 150 blocks, with none exceeding 20 sq. km in area. The blocks are organized and grouped into six clusters, each containing 12-50 blocks. The application area covering the six clusters is enveloped within an area measuring not more than 550 km by 550 km, according to an ISA document.
Source: Deccan Herald/adaderana.lk
