Marine genomic prospecting & the BBNJ treaty

01Overview and value chain

Markers: [EC: UN BBNJ Agreement — Marine Genetic Resources access & benefit-sharing, entered into force January 2026 | OECD: Marine bioeconomy | Regulator: UN DOALOS (Global), EPA (USA)]

Marine genomic prospecting is the search for novel genes, enzymes and bioactive compounds in ocean organisms and environmental DNA, increasingly focused on the deep sea and the high seas — waters beyond any nation’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. A 2026 Scientific Reports study found the deep sea an “environmentally and phylogenetically undersampled” reservoir of natural products with high biodiscovery potential, while Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers describe a 500-million-unique-gene deep-sea dataset as an “untapped evolutionary engine.” Until 2026, sampling and using genetic material from these international waters — Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) — had no dedicated legal framework, a gap the UN High Seas Treaty, formally the BBNJ Agreement (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction), was negotiated to close. The treaty entered into force in January 2026 after crossing its ratification threshold, with states including the UK formally joining; it creates, for the first time, an access-and-benefit-sharing (ABS) regime for marine genetic resources collected on the high seas.

The key directions of marine genomic prospecting under the BBNJ regime are:

1. Marine genetic resource access & benefit-sharing (MGR ABS): the BBNJ Agreement’s core mechanism requiring notification of access to genetic material from Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction and fair, equitable sharing of resulting monetary and non-monetary benefits.
2. Digital sequence information governance (DSI Governance): an actively-debated BBNJ mechanism extending benefit-sharing obligations to genetic sequence data itself, not just physical samples — the subject of multiple 2026 Frontiers in Marine Science and Marine Policy papers on how to operationalize monetary sharing from DSI use.
3. Deep-sea genomic biodiscovery (Deep-Sea Biodiscovery): research expeditions and metagenomic surveys — Scripps’ 500-million-gene deep-sea dataset, Tara Ocean Foundation’s global sampling voyages — cataloguing undersampled marine life as a source of novel genes and compounds.
4. Marine-derived drug discovery & patenting (Marine Bioprospecting): commercial development of marine natural products into clinical candidates (PharmaMar’s oncology pipeline), intersecting with an unresolved legal tension between TRIPS patent law and the UNCLOS/BBNJ marine-commons framework.

Sectoral value chain

[High-seas sample / eDNA collection] ──> [Sequencing & characterization] ──> [Digital sequence deposit]
                                                                                       │
                                                                        (ABS notification obligation)
                                                                                       │
                                                                                       ▼
[Commercialization & benefit-sharing] <─── [Clinical / product development] <─── [Bioprospecting & lead screening]

Value chain levels

Cross-cutting technologies of the sector:

• Digital sequence information (Digital Sequence Information): the genetic sequence data itself — decoupled from the physical sample — is the actively-contested unit of value and benefit-sharing obligation under the BBNJ Agreement.
• Deep-sea eDNA and metagenomic sampling (Deep-Sea eDNA Sampling): environmental DNA and shotgun metagenomics let expeditions catalogue high-seas biodiversity without full-organism collection, the method behind Scripps’ 500-million-gene dataset.
• Marine genome biobanking (Marine Genome Biobanking): long-term, citable repositories such as Ocean Genome Legacy Center preserve tissue and sequence records and increasingly affiliate with global genomic infrastructure like the Earth BioGenome Project.

02US

The United States anchors the deep-sea genomic-biodiscovery research base and hosts a dedicated marine genome biobank that has begun engaging directly with BBNJ implementation, even as the US itself has not ratified the treaty.

deep-sea gene discovery, marine genome biobanking, Earth BioGenome Project

• Scripps Institution of Oceanography: researchers describe the deep sea as an “untapped evolutionary engine,” reporting a dataset of 500 million unique genes from deep-ocean sampling that vastly undersamples the ocean’s true genetic diversity relative to terrestrial environments.
• Ocean Genome Legacy Center (Northeastern University): a nonprofit marine genome biobank founded in 2008 offering barcoding, sample deposit and genomic-collection-catalog services; it joined the Earth BioGenome Project’s affiliate network in February 2026 and published its own public explainer on the High Seas Treaty in March 2026.
• Deep-sea biodiscovery potential: a 2026 Scientific Reports analysis found deep-sea natural products environmentally and phylogenetically undersampled relative to their biodiscovery potential, framing the deep sea as a priority target for future genomic prospecting.

03CN

China’s marine genetic-resources activity in this pass surfaces only generic industry-outlook coverage rather than a named commercial or research entity engaged specifically in BBNJ-relevant deep-sea genomic prospecting.

deep-sea resource development outlook, no confirmed named originator

• Industry-outlook coverage: Chinese market-research publishers cover “marine biological gene resources” and “deep-sea technology” as an emerging industry category with 2026 policy and value-chain overviews, but two capped search attempts returned only generic market-report content, not a company- or institute-specific project.
• National deep-sea development framing: the same coverage situates marine genetic-resource development within China’s broader deep-sea technology and marine economy policy push, without naming a specific BBNJ-engaged research programme.
• No confirmed commercial or research anchor: consistent with the thin-search pattern on other frontier-policy topics, China is held qualitative rather than tabled with an unconfirmed name.

04EU

Europe supplies both the commercial and the expeditionary poles of marine genomic prospecting — a Spanish oncology company built on marine natural products, and a French ocean-research foundation running the sampling voyages that feed the field’s genetic discovery pipeline.

marine-derived oncology, global sampling expeditions, AI-accelerated discovery

• PharmaMar (Spain): a marine natural-products drug developer advancing clinical candidates including PM534 and PM742, which announced an AI collaboration with Globant in March 2026 aimed at accelerating oncology research with claimed 15x-faster insight generation and over 90% accuracy in its agentic research workflow.
• Tara Ocean Foundation (France): operates the research vessel Tara on global genomic and biodiversity sampling expeditions — including the Tara Coral study of coral resilience to warming and the Tara Pacific biodiversity survey — generating open marine genetic data used across the international research community.
• Academic policy output: European-based research groups are prominent authors in the 2026 wave of Frontiers in Marine Science and Marine Policy papers analyzing marine gene patent landscapes and designing digital-sequence-information benefit-sharing mechanisms for the BBNJ regime.

05Leading companies and research institutes

06Tech stack and innovations

The marine genomic prospecting stack rests on collecting genetic material from remote, high-seas environments, sequencing it into a citable digital record, and routing that record through a treaty-mandated access-and-benefit-sharing check before any commercial use.

1. Deep-sea eDNA and metagenomic sampling (Deep-Sea eDNA Sampling):
   • environmental DNA from water and sediment, plus shotgun metagenomic sequencing, lets expeditions catalogue high-seas biodiversity without collecting every organism physically.
   • case: Scripps’ deep-sea sampling produced a 500-million-unique-gene dataset that researchers describe as revealing the ocean’s genetic diversity to be far larger than previously mapped.
2. Digital sequence information governance (DSI Governance):
   • the BBNJ Agreement extends its access-and-benefit-sharing logic to digital sequence information — the genetic sequence data itself — not only the physical sample, a decoupling that is still being operationalized in 2026 academic and policy literature.
   • case: 2026 papers in Frontiers in Marine Science and Marine Policy propose specific mechanisms for fair, monetary benefit-sharing from DSI use, reflecting active, unresolved implementation debate.
3. Marine genome biobanking (Marine Genome Biobanking):
   • nonprofit and university-affiliated biobanks preserve tissue samples and sequence records long-term, increasingly linking into global genomic infrastructure.
   • case: Ocean Genome Legacy Center’s February 2026 affiliation with the Earth BioGenome Project connects its marine collection to a coordinated global genome-sequencing effort, while its own March 2026 explainer signals direct institutional engagement with BBNJ implementation.

07Value chains and production pipelines

Industrial pipeline of BBNJ-governed marine genomic prospecting (UN BBNJ Agreement, Earth BioGenome Project)

┌───────────────────────────┐      ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ 1. High-seas sampling      │ ───> │ 2. Sequencing              │
└───────────────────────────┘      └───────────────────────────┘
                                                 │
                                                 ▼
┌───────────────────────────┐      ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ 4. ABS notification        │ <─── │ 3. Digital sequence deposit│
└───────────────────────────┘      └───────────────────────────┘
              │
              ▼
┌───────────────────────────┐      ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ 5. Bioprospecting screening│ ───> │ 6. Commercialization       │
└───────────────────────────┘      └───────────────────────────┘

Stage 1: High-seas sampling

Research vessels and expeditions collect organisms, water or sediment from Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, the international waters where the BBNJ Agreement’s access-and-benefit-sharing regime applies.

Stage 2: Sequencing

DNA is extracted and sequenced, with novel genes identified against reference databases — the step producing Scripps-scale deep-sea gene catalogues.

Stage 3: Digital sequence deposit

Annotated sequences are archived in a biobank or public database, some affiliated with coordinated global efforts such as the Earth BioGenome Project.

Stage 4: ABS notification

Under the BBNJ Agreement, access to and intended use of ABNJ-sourced genetic material (including its digital sequence information) triggers a notification obligation, the treaty’s mechanism for tracking who is using high-seas genetic resources.

Stage 5: Bioprospecting screening

Sequences and derived compounds are screened for bioactivity — antimicrobial, oncology or enzymatic potential — narrowing a genomic library to validated leads.

Stage 6: Commercialization

A validated lead advances into a patented product or clinical candidate, such as PharmaMar’s marine-derived oncology pipeline, triggering the monetary or non-monetary benefit-sharing the BBNJ regime requires.