ABSTRACT
All cellular life comes from the sea. The world’s oceans cover nearly 71 per cent of the Earth’s surface, provide more than 90 per cent of the habitable area for life on Earth, and host an immense biological diversity which still waits to be fully discovered. It is understood that such marine biological diversity provides important goods (including biomass, oil, gas, minerals, bioactive molecules) and services (climate regulation, nutrient regeneration and supply to the photic zone, food) of immense socioeconomic value as well as great importance for the achievement of international development goals (Census of Marine Life 2011: 2).
