ISO/PRF 23731

Marine technology -- Marine environment impact assessment (MEIA) -- Performance specification for in situ image-based surveys in deep seafloor environments

Titre manque

General Information

• Status: Published
• ICS: 13.020.30 - Environmental impact assessment
• ICS: 47.020.01 - General standards related to shipbuilding and marine structures
• Technical Committee: ISO/TC 8/SC 13 - Marine technology
• Drafting Committee: ISO/TC 8/SC 13/WG 4 - Marine environment impact assessment

Standards Content (sample)

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 23731
First edition
Marine technology — Marine
environment impact assessment
(MEIA) — Performance specification
for in situ image-based surveys in
deep seafloor environments
PROOF/ÉPREUVE
Reference number
ISO 23731:2021(E)
ISO 2021
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ISO 23731:2021(E)
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© ISO 2021

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ISO 23731:2021(E)
Contents Page

Foreword ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................iv

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................v

1 Scope ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1

2 Normative references ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 1

3 Terms and definitions ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 1

4 Principle ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3

5 Performance requirements and recommendations ........................................................................................................ 3

5.1 Angle and scale of the monitoring .......................................................................................................................................... 3

5.2 Illumination ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 3

5.3 Bait .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3

5.4 Image capturing schedule/timing .......................................................................................................................................... 3

5.5 Data synchronization and management ........................................................................................................................... 4

Annex A (informative) Example of seafloor observatories ........................................................................................................... 5

Bibliography .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................10

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ISO 23731:2021(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

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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).

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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.
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ISO 23731:2021(E)
Introduction

From the mid-1990s, attention has been paid to potential environmental impacts to deep-sea

[2]
environments caused by sea debris, bottom trawling, seabed mining, etc .

In situ observations of the deep-seafloor provide useful data sets to assess the amount of natural

[3]

variation in biological systems over a range of different spatial and temporal dimensions . They can

also provide data on recruitment and community succession patterns. Imaged-based surveys are an

integral component of underwater surveys conducted both with moving platforms (e.g. ROVs, HOVs,

[4, 5, 6]

AUVs) , and stationary platforms (e.g. moorings, buoys, standalone seabed platforms, cabled

[7, 8]

observatories) . The images have the potential to provide a broad range of significant scientific

information and educational benefits long after data acquisition and are non-destructive to the

monitored environments. In order to obtain the necessary spatial coverage for robust statistical

analyses of the intrinsic variability within environments and their associated biological ecosystems, it

[9]
is necessary to deploy multiple standalone seabed platforms concurrently .

In the case of seabed mining operations, it will be necessary to accumulate long-term data sets of

different environments within the proposed mining field and downstream where any sediment plumes

can be expected to be transported in order to detect and monitor any environmental impacts due to the

extraction and processing of minerals (see ISBA/25/LTC/6). As such, a standard for long-term in situ

image-based surveys in deep sea environments needs to be developed for use in such scenarios.

This document gives specifications for in situ image-based surveys in deep seafloor environments to

be used for marine environmental impact assessments and other purposes where a long-term image-

based survey in the deep-sea is required.
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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 23731:2021(E)
Marine technology — Marine environment impact
assessment (MEIA) — Performance specification for in situ
image-based surveys in deep seafloor environments
1 Scope

This document specifies minimum requirements and provides recommendations for the gathering of

image-based data at seafloor where epifauna and benthopelagic fauna with a minimum dimension of

1 cm are used as a proxy for the status of the biological community.
2 Normative references

The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content

constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For

undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

ISA ISBA/25/LTC/6, Recommendations for the guidance of contractors for the assessment of the possible

environmental impacts arising from exploration for marine minerals in the Area, 2013. Available at https://

www .isa .org .jm
3 Terms and definitions

For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISBA/25/LTC/6 and the following

apply.

ISO and IEC maintain terminological 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
autonomous underwater vehicle
AUV
underwater robotic vehicle that does not have a tether to the surface

Note 1 to entry: AUVs are pre-programmed to operate over a particular course or to respond to sensor data or

perhaps acoustic commands. Applications include surveying, scientific data collection and mine-hunting.

3.2
benthopelagic

pertaining to the zone very close to, and to some extent having contact with, the sea floor of deeper

portions of the open ocean
1) ISA: International seabed authority.
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ISO 23731:2021(E)
3.3
codec

compression/decompression algorithm used to take a raw stream of audio and/or video data and to

make it smaller by removing elements that are deemed unnecessary, and later to take the compressed

stream and restore the original version so that it can be replayed on a display and/or sound system

Note 1 to entry: Some codecs attempt to only remove elements that the average person would never miss, while

others notably reduce the image or sound quality, usually in order to make the content as small as possible

for transmission over slow or low bandwidth connections. Codec selection is usually based on what is more

important: quality or size/speed of the transmission.
3.4
container
outer shell of a media file that organizes the stream(s) that it carries

Note 1 to entry: A particular container format can support several different encoding formats (e.g. H.264, WMV,

Sorenson AVC, RealVideo, DivX and ProRes 422), and no container format can handle every possible encoding

format. Thus, for example, there can be two different MOV files, one of which plays just fine on a computer, while

the other fails to play, due to that computer having a codec (3.3) for the encoding format of the first file, but no

matching codec for the encoding format found in the second file.

Note 2 to entry: Most video files have one video data stream and one audio data stream, but can contain multiple

audio streams (possibly in different languages, or to support special surround-sound systems), or even additional

video streams (to support watching the same program from multiple angles). The container format of a file is

usually directly connected to the file extension or MIME type (e.g. Quicktime MOV, RealMedia RM, MPEG, MP4,

Windows AVI, Windows WMV).
3.5
epifauna
organisms that live on the surface of the sediment/substrate
3.6
mooring

physical platform (3.8) containing a buoyant element constrained to a geographic location by an

anchoring device
3.7
observatory

infrastructure that is able to accommodate sensors and instruments either permanently installed or

by demand, to provide certain services like power supply and communication links for all connected

instruments
EXAMPLE Global, regional.
3.8
platform

collection of nodes, sensors and instruments together with necessary controllers physically connected

together, with a known external geometry
EXAMPLE Mooring (3.6), surface mooring, profiler, AUV (3.1), glider.
3.9
resolution

smallest amount of input signal change that an instrument/sensor can detect reliably

3.10
scavenger

organism that eats waste products and dead remains of other animals and plants that it did not kill

itself
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ISO 23731:2021(E)
4 Principle

The suggested protocols are image-based as these methods are non-destructive to the monitored

environments. They incorpora
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