Speakers
Description
Germany has just officially acceded to the UN High Seas Treaty (BBNJ Agreement, Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction) in September 2026. This means that effective October 21st 2026 the German Hochseeschutzgesetz (HochseeSchG) will apply for all vessels flying the German flag and all German scientists. In practical terms, scientists will need to comply with specific notification, labelling and reporting requirements when working with samples containing marine genetic resources originating from the high seas.
These requirements pose new challenges for sample and sample-metadata management systems to ensure end-to-end traceability, comprehensive documentation throughout the sample lifecycle and, upon request by the authorities, provide transparent auditable reports.
At GEOMAR, the BIS (Biosample Information System) is operating since 2024 and already fulfills most prerequisites to meet the new regulations of the HochseeSchuG: connecting samples and their metadata (permits, track sample storage and sub sampling), connecting samples to data portals and publications, and making samples from the high seas F.A.I.R. Currently, we are working on implementing simple tools that allows the scientist to produce reports on high sea samples and their data lifecycle.