Check out the top stories from the deep, taken from coverage between 10-17 July 2023
Calls grow to put the brakes on deep-sea mining as countries discuss rules
Source: Mongabay
Author: Elizabeth Claire Alberts
Deep-sea mining continues to face growing opposition. This week, Canada, Finland, Brazil and Portugal well as the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights and a major seafood industry group all added their voices to calls for a halt.
Other nations that have called for similar measures on earlier occasions include Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, the Federated States of Micronesia, Ecuador, Fiji, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and Vanuatu. Last year, France called for an outright ban on deep-sea mining. Many car companies, including BMW, Volvo Group and Renault, also support a moratorium and have vowed not to use any metals extracted from the ocean in their electric vehicles.
Deep Sea Mining Isn’t a Viable Climate Solution
Source: TIME
Author: Surangel S. Whipps, Jr. And Daniela Fernandez
On July 10, youth from around the world will gather at the International Seabed Authority meetings to call on governments to stop deep-sea mining in its tracks.
We are at a pivotal moment for the health of our ocean, and by extension, our planet. The Sustainable Ocean Alliance and the citizens of Palau continue to call for a moratorium on deep-sea mining and are “grateful that many others around the world share our views. Among them, importantly, are our youth, who will inherit this world and its problems. We have the unique opportunity to prevent a problem before it begins by halting deep-seabed mining practices until we can better understand the risks.”
Controversial deep-sea mining is killing ocean life, warns study
Source: BBC Science Focus
Author: Noa Leach
A new study led by scientists from Japan and the UK shows that ocean creatures disappear from the areas both within and outside deep sea mining operations, with around half of fish and shrimp populations plummeting after one year.
Scientists continue to warn us that biodiversity loss will be inevitable – and most likely irreversible if deep-sea mining were to go ahead. New research led by the Geological Survey of Japan has reiterated this. “These results suggest the impact of deep sea mining could be even bigger than we think,” said the new paper’s first author Travis Washburn. The team analysed data via video footage from a remotely-operated vehicle on the seafloor. They counted species density one month before, one month after, and one year after the mining test on the Takyo-Daigo seamount.
A Showdown in Jamaica Is Deciding the Fate of the Deep Ocean
Source: Bloomberg
Author: Todd Woody
As global attention turns on the International Seabed Authority and the emerging, risky deep-sea mining industry, Bloomberg explores the issue and the Authority who stands to profit from industrializing the world’s last untouched wilderness.
Resistance to mining the seabed for battery metals grows. Deep-sea mining threatens the very ecosystems in need of protection. How the ISA will respond to applicants is a key question for the coming weeks. Read on for everything you need to know about ISA, seabed mining and who stands to profit from industrializing the world’s last untouched wilderness.
The new shark species emerging from the deep
Source: BBC
Author: Stephen Dowling
More and more new species of sharks are being discovered as humanity peers deeper into the oceans.
More than two decades into the 21st Century, humanity is still finding new species of the ocean’s most impressive hunters – sharks. A new catshark has been discovered. It is thought to dwell around 700m (2,297ft) beneath the surface, laying its egg cases over coral hundreds of meters below the surface, in water too deep for sunlight to penetrate.