Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment.
In NEWS: Are deep-sea metals a vital resource or an environmental disaster in the making?
Discuss how deep-sea mining could harm marine ecosystems? In what ways deep-sea mining even worth it?
Deep-sea mining is the process of retrieving mineral deposits from the deep seabed – the ocean below 200m.
How deep-sea mining could harm marine ecosystems
1.Home to Sea Creatures
- Manganese nodules and mineral crusts aren’t dead rocks — they’re an important habitat for many sea creatures.
2) Ocean floor Affect
- Mining robots, which vacuum up huge expanses in their search for manganese nodules, would destroy the ocean floor
3) Pollution
- Even marine life found kilometers away from these mining areas would be disturbed by light and noise pollution
4) Fishing activity
- It may pose a threat to open ocean fish and invertebrates which are crucial to international fisheries — such as tuna stocks that help drive the economies of many small island developing states.
5) No sufficient knowledge
- Marine scientists have warned that beginning deep-sea mining without sufficient knowledge of the potential consequences could be catastrophic for biodiversity and the sea ecosystems.
6) Potential climate impacts
- The loss of deep-sea biodiversity following mining activity may impact the ocean’s carbon cycle and reduce its ability to help mitigate global temperature rise.
Deep-sea mining even worth it
1) Less destructive
- Mining companies have said deep-sea mining is less destructive than mining on land
2) Low Human Labour
- It would eliminate many concerns of human rights abuses.
3) Source of raw materials
- Countries like China are hoping for huge profits and a secure, independent source of raw materials, and expect to be mining for important minerals for decades to come.
4) Energy transition
- The raw materials found in manganese nodules aren’t actually needed to fuel the energy transition, highlighting instead the development of new battery technologies like lithium-iron-phosphate accumulators.
5) Battery technologies
- Battery technologies continue to evolve, it is possible that deep-sea mineral deposits will lose their attraction as alternative technologies not reliant on such minerals become more common.
Research should focus on creating more sustainable alternatives to their use because deep-sea mining could irreparably harm marine ecosystems, and limit the many benefits the deep sea provides to humanity.