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#NoDeepSeaMining

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Public
DoomsdaysCW

#Kerala fishermen up in arms against #DeepSeaMining proposal off #Kollam coast

March 22, 2025

"The fishermen in Kerala have already launched several protests against the proposed plan to open up the sea to private mining companies as part of the Union Government’s ‘Blue Economy’ initiative.

"All the fishermen’s associations stand united in their protests against this proposal, alleging that it would bring an end to the fisheries sector in the country, not only in the #ArabianSea but also in the #BayOfBengal.

“ 'The mining, according to the scientific report we have, can disturb the seabed and completely destroy fish spawning habitats. It can also release poisonous gases trapped on the #DeepSeaFloor, causing severe #environmental issues,' Kerala Minister for Fisheries, Saji Cherian, told PTI.

"He said that deep-sea mining requires huge investments and heavy machinery, meaning only #multinational #corporations will be involved, making these areas completely inaccessible to poor fishermen.

"The Kerala government, which is strongly opposing this project, passed a resolution in the Assembly urging the Centre to withdraw it.

"The Minister said the proposed site, off the Kollam shore in Kerala in the Arabian Sea, is very rich in marine resources and serves as a lifeline for fishermen from Kerala and other states.

“ 'We have a highly diverse and extensive fish population in this area. The mining will completely wipe out this habitat, severely affecting the livelihood of fishermen in our region,' Saji Cherian said."

Read more:
msn.com/en-in/money/economy/ke

#NoJobsOnADeadPlanet #OceansAreLife #MarineLife #DeepSeaMining #NoDeepSeaMining #DarkOxygen #LifeOnEarth #Extinction #Nodules #Greenwashing #CorporateColonialism #CorporatePolluters
#BatteryAlternatives #NoCobaltMining #RecycleCopper #RecycleCobalt #RecycleZinc #Recycle! #Ecocide #PlanetDestroyers #HumanGreed

www.msn.comMSN
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DoomsdaysCW

#NPR: The U.S. takes a step toward allowing #mining on the ocean floor, a fragile #ecosystem

by Julia Simon, April 25, 2025

"President #Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at making it easier for companies to mine the deep seafloor, saying it would create 'a robust domestic supply for critical minerals.'

"There is currently no commercial-scale deep-sea mining anywhere in the world. But companies have long eyed the ocean floor as a potential source of metals like nickel, cobalt, manganese and copper, which are used in batteries for electric vehicles and other technologies.

"The world has no rulebook for deep-sea mining. One company is pushing forward anyway

"These metals can be found in potato-sized nodules lying on the ocean floor. Many of the nodules are in the middle of the Pacific ocean, beyond the legal territory of individual countries.

"Thursday's order might circumvent ongoing international negotiations to regulate deep-sea mining.

"Those regions have traditionally been overseen by an international organization, the #InternationalSeabedAuthority (#ISA). The ISA has hosted talks for years to try to hammer out a rulebook to govern a potential seabed mining industry. The U.S. did not ratify the treaty that governs the seabed, and is not a voting member of the ISA, though in the past under previous administrations it has respected the ISA process.

"In his executive order, Trump instructed federal agencies to expedite the process for reviewing and issuing permits for mining on the seafloor in both U.S. and international territory. It will use a U.S. law from 1980, the "#DeepSeabed Hard Mineral Resources Act."

"Scientists and environmental groups condemned the order, arguing that opening the deep seabed for mining could disrupt important marine ecosystems, and damage the fishing industry.

" 'This is being planned on some of the least resilient #ecosystems on the planet,' says Douglas McCauley, professor of ocean science at the University of California Santa Barbara. 'It would have #catastrophic biological consequences.'

"Underwater mining can create plumes of sediment that could suffocate marine life, and degrade the #FoodWebs that fish depend on, McCauley says.

"There are also important questions about whether we actually need to be mining the seabed to get enough of these minerals for technologies like batteries, says Micah Ziegler, assistant professor of energy and chemical systems at Georgia Institute of Technology.

"While a couple of years ago researchers were concerned about the limitations of land-based mining for metals like cobalt and nickel, a variety of alternative #battery chemistries have been developed that might reduce the need for those elements, Ziegler says."

Read more:
npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-53764

#OceansAreLife #MarineLife #DeepSeaMining #NoDeepSeaMining
#DarkOxygen #LifeOnEarth #Extinction #Nodules #Greenwashing #CorporateColonialism #CorporatePolluters #TrumpSucks #Idiocracy
#BatteryAlternatives #NoCobaltMining #RecycleCopper #RecycleCobalt #RecycleZinc #Recycle! #Ecocide #PlanetDestroyers #HumanGreed #NoJobsOnADeadPlanet

Public
DoomsdaysCW

As #Norway Considers #DeepSeaMining, a Rich History of Ocean Conservation Decisions May Inform How the Country Acts

In the past, scientists, industry and government have worked together in surprising, tense and fruitful ways

by Christian Elliott, April 21, 2025

"At the #Arctic #MidOceanRidge off the Norwegian coast, molten rock rises from deep within the Earth between spreading tectonic plates. Black smoker vents sustain unique ecosystems in the dark. Endemic species of long, segmented bristle worms and tiny crustaceans graze on bacteria mats and flit among fields of chemosynthetic tube worms, growing thick as grass. Dense banks of sponges cling to the summits and slopes of underwater mountains. And among all this life, minerals build up slowly over millennia in the form of #sulfide deposits and #manganese crusts.

"Those minerals are the kind needed to fuel the global green energy transition—#copper, #zinc and #cobalt. In January 2024, Norway surprised the world with the announcement it planned to open its waters for exploratory deep-sea mining, the first nation to do so. If all went to plan, companies would be issued licenses to begin identifying mineral deposits as soon as #Spring2025. To some scientists who’d spent decades mapping and studying the geology and ecology of the Norwegian seabed and Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge, the decision seemed premature—they still lacked critical data on the area targeted for mining. The government’s own Institute of Marine Research (IMR) accused it of extrapolating from a small area where data has already been collected to the much larger zone now targeted

“ 'Our advice has been we don’t have enough knowledge,' says Rebecca Ross, an #ecologist at IMR who works on Norway’s #Mareano deep-sea mapping initiative. She says the decision was based solely on the #geology of the area. Taking high-resolution scans of the seabed and sampling its geology is the first step when research ships enter a new area, but critical biological and ecological research is more difficult and tends to come later—which is the case on the ridge area targeted for mining. Ross says it’s certain that area contains vulnerable marine ecosystems that would be affected by the light and noise pollution and sediment plumes generated by mining. The IMR estimates closing the knowledge gap on the target area could take ten years.

"The same conflict, with a partial scientific understanding misinterpreted and used to justify resource extraction, is playing out in the #Pacific, where mining pilot projects are already underway in international waters. Years before, scientists funded by industry scouted the #seabed there, discovering both valuable minerals and new forms of life."

Read more:
smithsonianmag.com/science-nat

#LeaveItInTheOcean#NoDeepSeaMining#RecycleCopper
Public
DoomsdaysCW

#Oxygen produced in the #DeepSea raises questions about extraterrestrial life

"Over 12,000 feet below the surface of the sea, in a region of the Pacific Ocean known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (#CCZ), million-year-old rocks cover the seafloor. These rocks may seem lifeless, but nestled between the nooks and crannies on their surfaces, tiny sea creatures and microbes make their home, many uniquely adapted to life in the dark.

"These deep-sea rocks, called polymetallic #nodules, don't only host a surprising number of sea critters. A team of scientists that includes Boston University experts has discovered they also produce oxygen on the seafloor.

"The discovery is a surprise considering oxygen is typically created by plants and organisms with help from the sun -- not by rocks on the ocean floor. About half of all the oxygen we breathe is made near the surface of the ocean by phytoplankton that photosynthesize just like land-dwelling plants. Since the sun is needed to carry out photosynthesis, finding oxygen production at the bottom of the sea, where there is no light, flips conventional wisdom on its head. It was so unexpected that scientists involved in the study first thought it was a mistake.

"This was really weird, because no one had ever seen it before," says Jeffrey Marlow, a BU College of Arts & Sciences assistant professor of biology and coauthor on the study, which was published in Nature Geoscience.

As an expert in microbes that live in the most extreme habitats on Earth -- like hardened lava and deep-sea hydrothermal vents -- Marlow initially suspected that microbial activity could be responsible for making oxygen. The research team used deep-sea chambers that land on the seafloor and enclose the seawater, sediment, polymetallic nodules, and living organisms. They then measured how oxygen levels changed in the chambers over 48 hours. If there are plentiful organisms breathing oxygen, then the levels would normally decline, depending on how much animal activity is present in the chamber. But in this case, oxygen was increasing.

" 'We did a lot of troubleshooting and found that the oxygen levels increased many more times following that initial measurement,' Marlow says. 'So we're now convinced it's a real signal.'

"He and his colleagues were aboard a research vessel tasked with learning more about the ecology of the CCZ, which spans 1.7 million square miles between #Hawaii and #Mexico, for an environmental survey sponsored by The Metals Company, a deep-sea mining firm interested in extracting the rocks en masse for metals. After running experiments on board the vessel, Marlow and the team, led by Andrew Sweetman at the Scottish Association for Marine Science, concluded the phenomenon isn't primarily caused by microbial activity, despite the abundance of many different types of microbes both on and inside the rocks.

"#PolymetallicNodules are made of rare metals, including #copper, nickel, cobalt, iron, and manganese, which is why companies are interested in mining them. It turns out, according to the study, that those densely packed metals are likely triggering "seawater electrolysis." This means that metal ions in the rock layers are distributed unevenly, creating a separation of electrical charges -- just like what happens inside of a battery. This phenomenon creates enough energy to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen. They named this "dark oxygen," since it's oxygen made with no sunlight. What remains unclear is the exact mechanism of how this happens, if oxygen levels vary across the CCZ, and if the oxygen plays a significant role in sustaining the local ecosystem."

sciencedaily.com/releases/2024

ScienceDailyOxygen produced in the deep sea raises questions about extraterrestrial lifeRocks are generating 'dark oxygen' in an area being explored for deep-sea mining.
#LeaveItInTheOcean#DeepSeaMining#NoDeepSeaMining
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DoomsdaysCW

If Earth loses its sources of oxygen, that won't be a very green transition. smh

#DeepSeaMining opponents suffer major setback

by Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS
August 3, 2024

"Opponents of deep sea mining suffered a serious setback Friday when they failed to take a first step toward an international moratorium on the controversial practice.

"Until now, those in favor of such mining—which would deliver minerals key to the green transition but with a potentially high environmental cost—have managed to prevent the #InternationalSeabedAuthority (#ISA) from even taking up any debate on the subject.

"This time, the debate took place, but a draft calling for a 'dialogue' toward 'the development of a general policy... for the protection and preservation of the marine environment' did not advance after a week of talks in Kingston, Jamaica.

"Numerous delegations, from #China to #SaudiArabia to the #Africa group of member states, said the draft lacked clarity and that the ISA's full assembly of 168 members was not the forum to make any decision on the protection of #marine habitats.

"Instead, those countries said the Council, made up of 36 states, should decide.

"Faced with consistent opposition, #Chile withdrew the draft measure as the assembly's annual session—which makes decisions by consensus—drew to a close.

"'We are somewhat disappointed,' said Chilean representative Salvador Vega Telias. Though he believed he had support from a majority of states, he opted to shelve the discussions until July 2025—a proposal that was not approved either.

"Deep sea mining in international waters involves scraping the ocean floor for #minerals like #nickel, #cobalt and #copper, crucial for #RenewableEnergy energy technology.

"Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (#UNCLOS), the ISA is responsible for both protecting the seabed in areas beyond national jurisdictions and for overseeing any exploration or exploitation of resources in those zones.

"Deep sea mining has not yet taken place beyond the experimental and exploratory stage.

"The ISA's Council, which for now only grants exploration contracts, has been drawing up commercial exploitation rules for more than a decade. They are aiming to adopt a mining code in 2025.

"Non-governmental organizations and scientists warn that deep sea mining could damage #habitats and harm species that are little understood, but are potentially important to the #FoodChain.

"In addition, they point to the risk of disrupting the ocean's capacity to absorb carbon emitted by human activities, and the noise that could disturb species such as #whales."

Read more:
phys.org/news/2024-08-deep-sea

#OceansAreLife #MarineLife #DeepSeaMining #NoDeepSeaMining
#DarkOxygen #LifeOnEarth #Extinction #Nodules #Greenwashing #CorporateColonialism #CorporatePolluters

Phys.org · Deep sea mining opponents suffer major setbackBy Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS
Public
DoomsdaysCW

So, the discovery of #DarkOxygen deep under the ocean reminds me of how #NativeAmericans and other #IndigenousPeoples have warned us that messing with certain places could affect life on #MotherEarth -- that some of them keep harmful forces (radiation) in check, or are essential in the creation of oxygen. Life on Earth exists only because certain elements have come together in a certain way. Why mess with what works?!!!
#Extinction #DefendTheSacred #DefendMotherEarth #NoDeepSeaMining #LeaveItInTheGround #LeaveItInTheOcean #WaterIsLife #NoUraniumMining #NoLithiumMining #Recycle #ElectronicsRecycling

Public
DoomsdaysCW

#Oxygen discovery defies knowledge of the deep ocean

Victoria Gill, Science correspondent, BBC
July 22, 2024

"Scientists have discovered '#DarkOxygen' being produced in the #DeepOcean, apparently by lumps of metal on the #seafloor.

"About half the oxygen we breathe comes from the #ocean. But, before this discovery, it was understood that it was made by marine plants photosynthesising - something that requires sunlight.

"Here, at depths of 5km, where no sunlight can penetrate, the oxygen appears to be produced by naturally occurring metallic '#nodules' which split seawater - H2O - into hydrogen and oxygen.

"Several #mining companies have plans to collect these nodules, which marine scientists fear could disrupt the newly discovered process - and damage any marine life that depends on the oxygen they make.

"'I first saw this in 2013 - an enormous amount of oxygen being produced at the seafloor in complete darkness,' explains lead researcher Prof Andrew Sweetman from the Scottish Association for Marine Science. 'I just ignored it, because I’d been taught - you only get oxygen through #photosynthesis.

"'Eventually, I realised that for years I’d been ignoring this potentially huge discovery,' he told BBC News.

"He and his colleagues carried out their research in an area of the deep sea between #Hawaii and #Mexico - part of a vast swathe of seafloor that is covered with these metal nodules. The nodules form when dissolved metals in seawater collect on fragments of shell - or other debris. It's a process that takes millions of years.

"And because these nodules contain metals like #lithium, #cobalt and #copper - all of which are needed to make batteries - many mining companies are developing technology to collect them and bring them to the surface.

"But Prof Sweetman says the dark oxygen they make could also support life on the seafloor [and life on Earth!]. And his discovery, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, raises new concerns about the risks of proposed deep-sea mining ventures.

"The scientists worked out that the metal nodules are able to make oxygen precisely because they act like batteries."

Read more:
bbc.com/news/articles/c728ven2

#WaterIsLife #NoDeepSeaMining #DeepSeaMining #DeepSeaMiningMoratorium #DeepGreen #Oxygen #GerardBarron #DeepSeaLife
#Extinction #DeadPlanet

www.bbc.comDark oxygen made by deep sea 'batteries'The discovery that lumps of metal on the seafloor produce oxygen raises questions over plans to mine the deep ocean.
Replied in thread
Public
DoomsdaysCW

OMG! That's the same stuff some countries want to start mining! TY,
@verdantsquare !

"Several mining companies have plans to collect these nodules, which marine scientists fear could disrupt the newly discovered process - and damage any #MarineLife that depends on the #oxygen they make."

bbc.com/news/articles/c728ven2

www.bbc.comDark oxygen made by deep sea 'batteries'The discovery that lumps of metal on the seafloor produce oxygen raises questions over plans to mine the deep ocean.
#DeepSeaMining#NoDeepSeaMining#DarkOxygen
Public
DoomsdaysCW

#Greenpeace could be thrown out of #UN #DeepSeaMining body

"Twenty-four countries, including the UK, have said they support a moratorium on deep-sea mining. They say licensing must wait until sufficient scientific evidence is available to assess the impact and to draw up regulations that protect the deep oceans."

18 March 2024
By Justin Rowlatt, Climate editor, BBC News

"#Miners and #environmentalists are locked in a battle over a multi-billion dollar treasure trove of metals at the bottom of our deepest oceans.

"Now drama on the high seas miles above is heating up the fight.

"One mining company claims Greenpeace activists disrupted a research expedition when they boarded its vessel in the remote Pacific.

"As a result the campaign group could be thrown out of the UN body overseeing controversial plans to begin deep-sea mining.

"Member states of the UN's International Seabed Authority could choose in coming days to strip Greenpeace of its observer status within the group."

Read more:
bbc.com/news/science-environme

www.bbc.comGreenpeace could be thrown out of UN deep-sea mining bodyGreenpeace could be thrown out of the UN body overseeing deep-sea mining for obstructing a research expedition.
#DeepGreen#NoDeepSeaMining#GerardBarron
Public
DoomsdaysCW

Mysterious Unknown #DeepSeaCreatures Discovered on Abyssal Expedition

By University of Gothenburg June 9, 2024

"Transparent #SeaCucumbers, pink sea pigs, and bowl-shaped sponges are some of the fascinating animals discovered during a deep-sea expedition to the #AbyssalPlains in the #PacificOcean.

"A 45-day research expedition to the Clarion Clipperton Zone between Mexico and Hawaii in the eastern Pacific Ocean ended in March. One of the scientists on board the British research vessel James Cook was Thomas Dahlgren, a marine ecologist from the University of Gothenburg and the NORCE research institute.

[...]

"Threatened by #Mining

"The aim of the expedition was to map the biodiversity of the area, where #DeepSeaMining of rare metals used in solar panels, electric car batteries, and other green technologies is planned. Several countries and companies are waiting for authorization to extract these metals bound to mineral #nodules lying on the ocean floor. The scientists want to find out more about how mining could affect the #ecosystem, register existing species, and find out how the ecosystem is organized.

“We need to know more about this environment to be able to protect the species living here. Today, 30% of these marine areas in consideration are protected, and we need to know whether this is enough to ensure that these species aren’t at risk of extinction,” says Dahlgren."

scitechdaily.com/mysterious-un

#DeepGreen #NoDeepSeaMining #GerardBarron #DeepSeaLife #WaterIsLife #WaterIsLife
#LawOfTheSeaConvention
#LawOfTheSea

SciTechDaily · Mysterious Unknown Deep-Sea Creatures Discovered on Abyssal ExpeditionTransparent sea cucumbers, pink sea pigs, and bowl-shaped sponges are some of the fascinating animals discovered during a deep-sea expedition to the Abyssal Plains in the Pacific Ocean. A 45-day research expedition to the Clarion Clipperton Zone between Mexico and Hawaii in the eastern Pacific O
Public
DoomsdaysCW

It boggles the mind that #Nauru isn't learning from past mistakes. Also, 10,000 people, who will barely profit from #DeepSeaMining, are buying the hype while #DeepGreen and #GerardBarron disrupts #DeepSeaLife, possibly permanently! Not good...

"#Australia, #NewZealand and #Britain had nearly exhausted the viable deposits of #phosphate by 1968 when Australia granted Nauru sovereignty, leaving behind one of the world’s worst #environmental #disasters."

#Corruption, incompetence and a musical: Nauru’s cursed history

The once-wealthy island now barely survives on income from Australia’s #detention regime and is pinning its economic hopes on #UnderseaMining

Anne Davies and Ben Doherty
Mon 3 Sep 2018

"During the 1990s it transformed into a money-laundering haven selling banking licences and passports, including diplomatic passports, which confer immunity. Customers included the Russian mafia and al-Qaida."
amp.theguardian.com/world/2018

The Guardian · Corruption, incompetence and a musical: Nauru's cursed historyBy Anne Davies
#WaterIsLife#NoDeepSeaMining#Extinction
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SHIFTPHONES

Im Zusammenhang mit steigenden Nachfragen zu Rohstoffen und Edelmetallen, insbesondere für IT-Technologien, wird der Tiefseebergbau als eine Abbau-Möglichkeit gehandelt.
Gemeinsam mit anderen Unternehmen haben wir ein Moratorium zum Thema "Deep Seabed Mining" unterzeichnet.🐋 🌊
Mehr Infos dazu findet ihr in unserem Blog.🙂

shiftphones.com/tiefseebergbau

© IN TOO DEEP / WWF

SHIFT -Tiefseebergbau – warum wir ein Moratorium brauchen - SHIFT -Dürfen wir vorstellen? Das ist Fred oder wissenschaftlich korrekt Stauroteuthis syrtensi. Er lebt in der Tiefsee in über 1000 Metern unter der Meeresoberfläche und ist einer der wenigen Oktopusse, die lumineszieren. Erst Ende letzten Jahres wurde in Montreal von fast 200 Ländern eine Vereinbarung getroffen, die vielleicht auch über die Zukunft von Fred und seiner […]
#deepsea#nodeepseamining#stopdeepseamining
Public
Caroline Roose 🌍 🐟 🌻

Yesterday with the @GreensEFA and together with activists from all over Europe we said #NoDeepSeaMining !
💚💙🌊
#LookDown #DefendTheDeep
RT @GreensEFA: #DeepSeaMining is a threat to #biodiversity, #climate & the livelihoods of coastal communities.

All EU countries must support a global moratorium to prevent the commercial exploitation of the deep sea & protect our marine ecosystems.

#LookDown #DefendTheDeep

🐦🔗: n.respublicae.eu/CarolineRoose

Public
Caroline Roose 🌍 🐟 🌻

Des images inquiétantes ont fuité et montrent des pollutions importantes déversées dans l'#océan Pacifique lors des phases de test de l'exploitation minière des grands fonds marins.
Suivons le principe de précaution, stoppons cette folie.
#DefendtheDeep #NoDeepSeaMining
RT @LouisaCasson: 🚨This is what the deep sea mining industry doesn’t want you to see🚨

Undercover footage from @themetalsco tests shows waste & debris flowing directly into the Pacific Ocean.

It…

🐦🔗: n.respublicae.eu/CarolineRoose

Public
No Deep Sea Mining

Did you know? The Clarion Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean is set to become the biggest mining operation in history with potentially irreversible damage to marine life and coastal communities
.
Most of the species found around nodules in Clarion Clipperton Zone in the Pacific are found nowhere else on earth
.
Deep sea mining may lead to the extinction of these diverse marine lives
.
#BluePeril #NoDeepSeaMining
.
www.blueperil.org

Public
No Deep Sea Mining

The Deep Sea Mining Campaign (DSMC) has moved over from Elon is a Twit (Twitter) to @Mastodon #Mastodon

The Deep Sea Mining Campaign (DSMC) has had a consistent focus on #DeepSeaMining as an emerging and very real threat to the world’s oceans for over 10 years.

Our unique approach combines research and evidence-based advocacy, finance advocacy and collaborative solidarity with frontline communities, and regional and international partners and networks.

Approximately 2 million square kilometres of Pacific Ocean Floor is currently under exploration leasehold for deep sea mining to national governments and private companies within both territorial and international waters.

We hope you will join us in saying #NoDeepSeaMining and follow us on FB and IG with the handle @nodeepseamining

For now, take a look at #BluePeril a visual investigation of deep sea mining in the Pacific Ocean

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