The world's oceans harbor a cultural heritage of sunken ships, remains of those lost in the transatlantic slave trade and Indigenous islanders' spiritual ties to the sea that must be protected, NGOs and native peoples say.
They are pushing at a meeting in Jamaica of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) -- an organization established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea -- for such protection to be enshrined in a mining code that is being negotiated to govern the exploitation of sea beds in international waters.
