Authoritative dump-site registries embedded in marine spatial planning

Mechanism

Consolidate what surveys establish about dump-site boundaries and drum positions into a single authoritative geospatial dataset, and wire it into the systems that govern seabed use: nautical charts, EEZ and high-seas licensing, deep-sea-mining permit review (e.g. via the relevant seabed authority), and national/regional marine spatial plans. The registry functions as a default avoidance layer — any project whose footprint intersects a dump zone triggers review or exclusion before work begins.

Where it fits

This is a spatial governance approach to the disturbance-avoidance problem. It neither cleans up nor monitors, but prevents the worst failure mode: an industrial operation re-mobilising semi-contained waste because the location was absent from the map the operator used.

Limits

Low physical cost but high coordination cost. It depends on historical dump records and modern survey data being reconciled, kept current, and — hardest of all — treated as binding across multiple jurisdictions and industries, including areas beyond national jurisdiction where authority is contested. Protective value is only as good as adoption; a registry no operator is obliged to consult changes nothing.