We need independent monitoring of the hydrocarbon industry's deep-sea activities to widen understanding of their potential impact (Nature 472, 152–154; 2011).

The facilities for this monitoring already exist. Real-time observatory systems that deliver data from the sea floor and water column over the Internet can be combined with sample collection and impact assessments of the marine industry to help untangle natural from anthropogenic changes and aid sustainable use of resources.

Efforts such as the European Seas Observatory NETwork, the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory and Ocean Networks Canada are enabling remote observing, early warning, data discovery and archiving. Researchers are also working with industry, for example on the Deep-ocean Environmental Long-term Observatory System project.

With the United Nations, the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations — the body coordinating the set up of a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) — could advance these initiatives and disseminate agreed terms to stakeholders.

Public availability of such collective data would also aid mitigation and make an important contribution to GEOSS.