just read an artical in THE AUSTRALIAN newspaper that the Chinese are planning to build a large base to support deep sea (4000-6000m)exploration for rare minerals and METHANE HYDRATE. thats bloody deep. deeper than GOM. it stands to reason that China would want to secure its own energy sources but if i put my lunatic fringe-conspiracy hat on in line with this thread then it makes me woder if they could also be looking for GOM organisms or such, uncontested in there own backyard. sorry i cant add a link, simply dont know how to do it. if any one is interested just guugle THE AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER . cheers.