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Access through your institution Buy or subscribe TO THE EDITOR — In 2014, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity’s Nagoya Protocol entered into force, creating a legal

framework to regulate access to genetic resources within national jurisdictions based on prior informed consent and mutually agreed terms of benefit sharing between ‘provider’ and ‘user’

countries. Although the protocol covers all terrestrial and marine life within national jurisdictions, international waters lie outside its reach. In March of 2018 the United Nations began

working to address this loophole, and the liberal access regime to marine genetic resources is changing. Here we discuss the implications for bioprospecting efforts and the biotech industry

in general going forward. Marine life has adapted to thrive even in the ocean’s most inhospitable conditions, where extremes of pressure, temperature and absence of light have selected

species with a unique range of secondary metabolites1. These natural products have attracted growing commercial interest from the biotech sector, supporting a rich marine biodiscovery

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ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support REFERENCES * Jaspars, M. et al. _J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U.K._ 96,

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Article  Google Scholar  Download references AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Stockholms Universitet, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm, Sweden Robert Blasiak Authors *

Robert Blasiak View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Robert Blasiak. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING

INTERESTS The author declares no competing interests. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Blasiak, R. International regulatory changes poised

to reshape access to marine genes. _Nat Biotechnol_ 37, 357–358 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-019-0087-1 Download citation * Published: 15 March 2019 * Issue Date: April 2019 *

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