Allsopp, and six co-authors, of a Greenpeace funded study, reported that as of 2013 a range of mining operations in the shallow seabed was underway, including diamond mining in Namibia and Tin mining in Indonesia. Due to rising demand for minerals and metals and declining land-based resources, there has been a recent surge of interest in exploration of both shallow and deep sea resources. However, there are environmental concerns with mining the seabed. Only a fraction of the deep sea has been scientifically studied to date and there have been no commercial scale mining trials so far. Nonetheless, given the nature, scale and locations of proposed seabed mining activities serious and, in some cases, widespread negative impacts on habitats and marine life can reasonably be expected.
Marine habitats which are being explored for prospective mining include hydrothermal vents (deep sea geysers) which host a unique biodiversity; seamounts (underwater mountains) which support an abundant and rich biodiversity; and manganese nodules which take millions of years to form and support sponges and other marine life. There are conservation concerns regarding the destruction of these habitats by mining, the resulting loss of biodiversity and the uncertainty that habitats and biodiversity may not recover once mining has ceased.
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
