From electric vehicles to renewable energy, the future runs on batteries. That’s driving growing demand for raw materials used to make batteries, including nickel, cobalt and copper. By next year, mining companies could start harvesting such materials from the deep sea on an industrial scale for the first time.
But the damage it would cause to ethereal ecosystems on the seafloor could be catastrophic and irreversible, a new report warns Researchers and ocean advocates are intensifying calls for a moratorium on deep-sea mining before it’s too late.
Researchers and ocean advocates are intensifying calls for a moratorium on deep-sea mining
Heated talks on a new “mining code” for the deep sea are underway this week in Kingston, Jamaica. “The mining code will ensure greater protection of the marine environment while establishing the requirements for access and responsible use of resources critical to the fight against climate change,” said Rory Usher, manager of public relations and media for the startup. mining company The Metals Company, says in an email to the edge.
But the seafloor remains too great a mystery for humans to fully understand the consequences of our actions there, advocates say. What little research we have already paints a grim picture of what some of the ramifications could be. Seabed mining “should be completely avoided” or at least delayed until there is enough scientific evidence to inform regulation, the report concludes.
“You could say that we know more about the surface of the Moon than we do about the seabed,” says Catherine Weller, director of global policy at the conservation organization Fauna & Flora. “So it’s illogical to go there and destroy it. The damage we do would be irreversible.”
The organization has some big-name patrons, including vice presidents David Attenborough and Judi Dench. The group also counts Prince William as one of its sponsors.
The new Fauna & Flora report released today brings together peer-reviewed research on what lies in the deep ocean and how it could be affected by mining. There have been many new discoveries since the group’s first assessment of that research in 2020, as scientists compete with mining companies to get to this mysterious realm.
A lot of attention is in an area between Hawaii and Mexico called the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. The seabed here is covered in rock polymetallic nodules rich in nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese. The area is also rich in biodiversity that researchers are striving to understand. Up to 90 percent of the species recently collected for study here are completely new to science. Some are so rare that they can only thrive within narrow ranges less than 200 kilometers (124 miles) long, according to the report.
And soon they could face an existential threat. In 2021, the island nation of Nauru Announced plans to sponsor The Metals Company’s mining efforts in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. It triggered a clause in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that requires the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to draw up new regulations for mining the nodules by July. That’s on the agenda for an ISA board meeting this week in Kingston.
Since polymetallic nodules can take millions of years to form, it might be impossible to quickly repair the ecosystems around them if mining starts, the report authors argue. Noise pollution alone from mining in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone could be devastating to marine life, even hundreds of miles away from the action, according to research published in the diary Science last year. At close range, the noise could reach levels higher than those of a typical rock concert. Living in the dark, some species rely on their ability to sense vibrations or noise to avoid predators or find mates and prey.
“They live in this cold, relatively quiet place where light doesn’t penetrate. And yet you would be sending machines down there that would be noisy, creating light, stirring up sediment. How is that going to affect the species’ ability to survive? Weller says.
Beyond the disruption and noise from machinery blasting the seabed, researchers are also concerned about the impact plumes of sediment it might have as they spread. They could potentially suffocate other ecosystems or pollute the water above, according to the report. Marine sediments are also an important carbon sink, which means that it keeps some of the greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. Disturbing that sediment risks releasing carbon dioxide, which exacerbates climate change.
There is much more that scientists don’t know about the deep sea and how we can depend on it without even knowing it. Even less than 1 percent of the ocean depths has been explored. What we have found so far is quite incredible, as the mariana snail fish that it has evolved to have holes in its skull to prevent its head from imploding under the immense pressure of living some 8,000 meters (26,200 ft) under the sea.
Leaders of approximately one dozen Countries including France, Germany and some small island nations like Fiji, Palau and Samoa are pushing to stop deep-sea mining. Even some technology and car companies have endorsed a moratorium, including Google, Samsung, BMW and Volkswagen. Companies point to “responsible” onshore mining as an alternative, an option that has also historically been fraught with environmental and human rights abuses. That just makes recycling batteries, making devices easier to repair, and using fewer materials in the first place, all the more important.
