The Deep Sea
THE DEEP SEA
Is closer than outer space, yet we know more about the moon and have better maps of Mars than the seafloor.
In the deep sea, we know life exists and hides secrets to our origins, medicines & innovations.
Origins of life on the planet is theorized as coming from deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
“Underwater hydrothermal vents are among most promising locations for life’s beginnings — our findings now add weight to that theory with solid experimental evidence.” - Nick Lane, University College London Professor
Origins
A deep-sea hydrothermal vent. Image credit: Oregon State University / CC BY-SA 2.0.
Jordan, S.F., Rammu, H., Zheludev, I.N. et al. Promotion of protocell self-assembly from mixed amphiphiles at the origin of life. Nat Ecol Evol 3, 1705–1714 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-1015-y
Medicines & Innovations
A crucial part of the COVID-19 test was developed from a microbe’s enzyme found in deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
If we move forward with DSM, we lose the opportunity to discover new species, innovations and medicines.
The deep sea is a virtually an
unexplored aquatic wonderland
Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute
filled with odd and amazing creatures
that defy belief
Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute
Glow in the dark sharks and six gilled sharks
Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute
Delicate gelatinise creatures
Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute
deep dwelling octopuses, like the Dumbo you see here,
Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute
and thousands of other species yet to be identified by science.
Here, much of the life is too small for the eye to see but in those very creatures spun the web of life, and possibly our very own existence.
Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute
The deep sea is the last untouched wilderness on Earth.
Until now.
Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute
THE ISA
The International Seabed Authority (ISA) was created by the UN’s Law of The Sea & it has jurisdiction of over 50% of the entire earth's surface.
Currently there are negotiations at the ISA over the exploitation regulations that would launch a new extractive industry, known as deep-seabed mining.
A loophole called the “Two Year Trigger” could allow industrial deep-seabed mining to begin, even without regulations in place, as soon as July 2023.
What is Deep Sea Mining?
WHAT IS DEEP-SEA MINING?
Deep Sea Mining is the process of extracting mineral deposits, namely rare earth minerals, from the deep sea, the area of the ocean below 200m/600ft, in international waters.
Credit: Nautilus Minerals
Why are rare earth minerals important?
Amongst other crises, humanity is faced with a huge, urgent challenge - the climate crisis.
credit: Li-An Lim
To solve for climate, we need solutions. Some of the solutions being invested in and scaled are renewables, electric vehicles (EV’s) and batteries.
Traditionally, these have required Rare Earth Minerals like Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel & Manganese.
Photo by American Public Power Association on Unsplash
Typically, these resources are mined on land.
Now, mining interests are looking to the ocean floor for these resources.
Photograph: Mike Smith Photography & Motion
WHERE DO YOU FIND RARE EARTH MINERALS IN THE DEEP SEA?
There are 3 habitats of interest:
Today, i’m going to talk about the later because there's the most interest and misconceptions around polymetalic nodule mining
Credit: ROV KIEL 6000/GEOMAR
Credit: NOAA
Credit: Nautilus
DeepCCZ Project
Imagine a sharks tooth falls to the bottom of the sea and over millions of years forms one of these baseball sized nodules.
They contain Copper, Cobalt, Nickel, and Manganese.
What is a Polymetallic nodule?
Why are these important?
Why are these important?
2. Polymetallic Nodules are living ecosystems.
Mining the nodules will destroy their unique habitat, life in and around them will take millions of years, if at all, recover, and it will lose ecosystem functions, for example, nodules are important in cycling and storing carbon in the seabed.
A.G. Glover, H. Wiklund, T.G. Dahlgren, M.J. Brasie
Photograph: Mike Smith Photography & Motion
Just like clearcutting an old growth forest and leaving nothing behind, deep sea mining is like clearcutting the ocean.
EFFECTS: PLUMES
Mining companies say nodules are like potatoes on the seafloor just waiting to be plucked up. In reality, this is strip mining the seafloor and it's a highly invasive and destructive process.
Plumes are stirred up from mining and dumped back into the water column from the mining vessel. Experts say these plumes could impact 4 to 5 times the area mined (a single mining operation would majorly impact 50,000 square kilometers).
The proposed scale of the operations has led many scientists to conclude that biodiversity loss would be unavoidable.
Video from Massachusetts Institute of Technology - of a pre-prototype collector vehicle entering, driving through, and leaving the low-lying turbidity current plume as part of a selfie operation.
OTHER EFFECTS:
Amanda Dillon from Drazen et al. 2020
The effects will be felt throughout the water column, not just at the mining site, threatening whales and other deep diving creatures
Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute
We know so little about this ecosystem: over 99% of the seabed is unexplored.
Credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute
While the deep sea feels far and foreign to you and me…
Credit: SOI/Andrew David, NOAA Fisheries
The deep sea supports our ability to live and thrive on this planet.
Climate
Ocean currents, propelled by upwelling from the deep sea, create the climate we enjoy and rely on for survival.
Credit; Sebastian Unrau
COASTAL COMMUNITIES & FOOD WEB
The deep sea is critical for the ocean food web, which coastal communities also rely on for food sovereignty, culture & economies.
Credit: Cassiano Psomas
CLIMATE CHANGE
The deep sea is one of the largest carbon sinks on earth.
Isn’t disrupting ancient carbon sinks what's causing the climate crisis in the first place?
Credit: Markus Spiske
At a time where 150 species go extinct every day, deep-sea mining threatens mass biodiversity loss, to communities directly mined and over substantially larger areas as well as whales and other deep-diving species.
Credit: by Dudarey Mikhail
Whale sharks, an endangered species, migrate through the CCZ, they could be impacted by discharge of waste from nodule mining.
Deep-sea mining jeopardizes vulnerable frontline communities and fisheries.
Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh: https://www.pexels.com/photo/men-throwing-a-fishing-net-in-sea-at-dusk-6875137/
Photo by Alex Arcuri: https://www.pexels.com/photo/birds-eye-view-of-an-island-in-vanuatu-12921445/
Deep-sea mining risks exacerbating the climate crises as the oceans ability to store and cycle carbon is reduced.
WE DON’T NEED DEEP-SEA MINING
that its either deep sea mining or terrestrial mining. Deep-sea mining is the expansion of already harmful mining practices
You might have heard the false narrative that deep-sea mining would substitute for landminning. In reality Deep sea mining wont replace harmful and inequitable practices of terrestrial mining - it will take more than DSM to make land mines disappear. DSM is an expansion of available territory to mine.
Deep-sea mining will be an extension of already harmful mining practices into new out of sight and out of mind depths.
The mining industry has created a false dichotomy that we have to choose between land mining or deep sea mining.
In reality, it’s not either land mining or deep sea mining: its land mining AND deep sea mining. Deep-sea mining will simply be an extension of already harmful mining practices.
ALTERNATIVES
We need less minerals than we think: we can reduce demand by 58% from now to 2050 with new technology, adopting circular economy models and recycling.
NEW TECHNOLOGY
New technology can reduce demand by 30%.
Many new breakthroughs are reducing and replacing minerals.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY MODELS
Credit: European Parliament
Circular economy models can reduce demand by 18%. This means using minerals we already have.
This could look like…
RECYCLING
By recycling better, we can reduce demand by another 10%.
Recycling minerals could replace extracted ones in the long-term creating the circular economy. To do this, we need new designs, minerals should be easier to remove from end-of-life products & improvement in the technologies recovering those minerals is needed.
As of today less than 20% of e-waste is recycled.
Momentum is building to leave the industry behind
Major players are pulling funds. In March 2023, Lockheed Martin, the industries biggest corporate backer pulled out, and in May 2023 Maersk pulled it’s deep-sea mining investment.
Financial institutions, like The World Bank, European Investment Bank, UNEP-FI, are all warning that DSM is not financially viable.
International companies are pledging they will not use minerals from the deep sea.
Political winds are shifting
Countries are now calling for halt to deep sea mining. From France's stance for a full on “ban” to countries calling for a “moratorium” to stop deep sea mining.
At the ISA’s March 2023 meetings, some of these countries called out the Secretary General of the ISA, for stepping outside of his neutral facilitator role.
This is one of the many examples of the ISA’s larger problem: it has an inherent conflict of interest as its mandated to both profit from and steward the deep sea.
A map of the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the central Pacific Ocean. Colored areas are those licensed for mining and shaded squares are areas currently protected from mining. Image adapted from the International Seabed Authority, 2018, courtesy of NOAA.
The ISA has already awarded 31 exploration licenses, if allowed to begin, this will be the largest mining operation in history, an area greater than two times the size of France. And that’s just the beginning…
The common heritage of humankind
By the way, the Law of the Sea states, the deep-sea is the “common heritage of humankind” - that means it belongs to you and me. So were stakeholders in this. shouldn’t we have a say in what happens?
The Law of the Sea states, "...the seabed and ocean floor and the subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, as well as its resources, are the common heritage of humankind..." The ocean floor, including its resources, belongs to you and me. Shouldn’t we have a say in what happens?
So what can we do?
So, what action do you need to take to stop this? How can you help?
Close
Together, we can make sure the ocean, the planet and humanity can thrive for generations to come
Thank you.
Image by Willyam / courtesy of MiningWatch Canada.
While the momentum for a moratorium shifting, The window to act is closing.
What will you do to defend the deep, so the ocean, the planet and humanity can thrive for generations to come?
Thank you!
Citations
“The Metals Company.” LinkedIn, 26 September 2022, https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-metals-company/. Accessed 9 May 2023.
Deep-Sea Mining Science Statement. (n.d.). Retrieved May 9, 2023, from https://www.seabedminingsciencestatement.org