A Moratorium on Deep Sea Mining is Essential for Ocean Health

Negotiators from around the world are in Kingston, Jamaica this week for International Seabed Authority (ISA) meetings. Member countries are expected to hold the first-ever open debate on a deep sea mining moratorium, with more than 25 countries in support of putting the brakes on seabed mining for environmental and other reasons. 

Recent research has shown that the deep sea is a treasure trove of biodiversity and that the ocean floor serves as a critically-important carbon sink. Additional research has shown that deep sea mining has the potential to harm important tuna fisheries in the Pacific. 

Dr. Enric Sala, National Geographic Explorer in Residence and Pristine Seas founder, said: “Giving the greenlight to deep sea mining would open a Pandora’s box of unknown impacts. Mining the seabed will inevitably affect fragile sea life that we barely know. And a study last week showed that deep-sea polymetallic nodules produce oxygen in total darkness, which may be key to ocean health. The more we look in the deep sea, the more we discover. Rushing to mine the seabed will surely go down in history as an environmental disaster we should have stopped before it started. It is short-sighted to destroy, in minutes, ecosystems that have taken millennia to develop. Countries worldwide have so much more to gain by protecting vital parts of the ocean than signing them away for short term profit.”