the sea sings a peaceful song

DEEP-SEA MINING MIGHT HARM RARE JELLYFISH

New research shows mining of the deep ocean floor for rare minerals could harm deep-sea jellyfish by stressing them out with sediment plumes, suggests a study of how resource harvesting might affect the helmet jellyfish (Periphylla periphylla), a luminescent red-colored cnidarian of the deep sea.

While deep sea animals provide important ecosystem functions including climate regulation, species-specific responses to stressors remain poorly understood. Researchers collected helmet jellyfish and exposed them to sediment at concentrations that could be churned up by mining. After a day, the animals had mucus covering much of their bodies, among other signs that they were really not well, being stressed and using a lot of energy to rid out of the floating sediment, which could be harmful over extended periods.

Suspended sediment plumes provoked the most acute and energetically costly response through the production of excess mucus. Microbial symbionts appeared to be unaffected by both stressors, with mucus production maintaining microbial community composition. If these responses are representative for other gelatinous fauna, an abundant component of pelagic ecosystems, the effects of planned exploitation of seafloor resources may impair deep pelagic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

Photo by Bjørnar Solhaug

Reference (Open Access): Stenvers et al., 2023. Experimental mining plumes and ocean warming trigger stress in a deep pelagic jellyfish. Nature Communications

Yale Environment 360: The deep sea is viewed by many as a kind of watery desert. There may be a few creatures floating around down there, but people don’t think of it as a thriving ecosystem. Is that just wrong? Lisa Levin: There are actually surprisingly diverse and rich ecosystems, but sometimes the organisms are small, only a few millimeters in size. For example, in the nodule zone that they’re interested in mining, most of the animals are very, very small. We may think it is unpopulated, because we don’t see many big charismatic organisms there. e360: People may say, “This is a marginal area, why do we have to worry about it?” Levin: You could go to a very remote section of the Amazon rainforest that nobody has explored and say, “Why is it important?” There are actually many parallels with the rainforest. One is that the animals in the deep sea can live for a very long time. Some fish can live for hundreds of years. Some of the invertebrates, like corals or sponges, live for thousands of years. Like the rainforest, the deep sea is also extremely vulnerable to physical disturbance. Once the ocean bottom is hit by a trawl [fishing] net, you’ve lost four or five thousand years of life for many corals and sponges. Around 15 percent of our continental margins have already been trawled, leaving vast piles of rubble where deep sea corals once thrived.

March 11-13: I will be delivering the Mandel Lectures at Brandeis University. The three oceanic-themed lectures will focus on political economy, poetry, and mysticism (yeah, I'm hitting all my fancies here). The lectures will eventually be published as a book. More info here:

https://www.brandeis.edu/mandel-center-humanities/mandel-lectures.html

What the fuck?!?

Norway’s parliament authorised deep-sea mining

Norwegian lawmakers gave the green light for deep-sea exploration around the Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard on January 9, sparking concern among environmental groups.

Members of the national parliament authorised deep-sea exploration in the 281,200 square kilometre area on Tuesday to pave the way for commercial exploitation of the minerals abundant in the North Atlantic shelf.

The region is wealthy in copper, manganese, cobalt and lithium, raw materials identified by the EU as of strategic importance as they are considered a prerequisite for the transition to a green and digital economy. Such minerals are currently mined in several countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, China and Russia.

In the Critical Raw Materials Act passed by the EU last December, these minerals were three of 16 listed among the highest-priority strategic raw materials.

Read more HERE

Like clouds floating in the ocean🐚

Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:

A UN agency has granted permission for a Canadian-based company to test out deep-sea mining.

The Metals Company (TMC) announced on September 7 that the International Seabed Authority (ISA) had given its subsidiary Nauru Ocean Resources Inc (NORI) the go-ahead to gather 3,600 tonnes of polymetallic nodules from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, beginning later this month. The announcement stunned opponents of deep-sea mining, who have long called for a moratorium on the controversial practice.

“This is a troubling development which brings us even closer to the launch of the commercial deep sea mining industry,” Greenpeace USA project lead on deep sea mining Arlo Hemphill said in a statement emailed to EcoWatch. “It is a threat to the ocean, home to over 90% of life on earth, and one of our greatest allies in the fight against climate change.”

Deep-sea mining is the term for removing mineral deposits from the ocean floor below 200 meters (approximately 656 feet), according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Proponents of the practice see the deep-sea bed as a potential source of important metals like copper, nickel, aluminum, manganese, zinc, lithium and cobalt that are used in cellphones but also renewable energy technology like wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries and solar panels.

However, scientists and environmentalists are concerned about the irreparable damage that mining the seabed could do to deep-sea ecosystems that are rich in unique biodiversity but still poorly understood. Just last year, the overwhelming majority of governments, nonprofit organizations and civil society groups at the world congress of the IUCN voted in favor of placing a moratorium on the practice until the environmental impacts can be fully researched and understood.

This is so cool! Finding animal life beneath hydrothermal vents is incredible! Some of the things they found in the underwater cave systems in earth's volcanic crust include snails and tube worms. These tube worms alongside chemosynthetic bacteria, use the hydrogen sulphide in the chemical plumes from thermal vents by oxidising it to create energy and sugars to survive. How cool is that?!

I think this article also really demonstrates how important it is to conserve and protect lesser known ecosystems and species.

Pros of deep-sea mining put forward by mining companies:

Meet demands for rare earth materials (metals) used in batteries for electric cars and to store renewable energy

Help the world shift towards green economy as a result

Sediment pollution can be minimised through precautionary measures

Mining companies are not proposing to release waste from mining into the ocean (which is polluting) (personal note: while this is valid, deep sea mining practices are difficult to monitor and even more difficult to enforce by authorities).

Deep sea mining is affects humans less than land mining does

Cons of deep-sea mining put forward by researchers (note there is no thorough research on deep sea mining, save for a trial done in Japan)

Scientists monitored sea life in a mining trial done in Japan, and found that density of swimming marine animals (fish, shrimp etc) dropped by 43% in areas directly affected by sediment pollution from mining, and by 56% in adjacent areas

Other studies suggest that fish such as tuna are moving towards certain zones in the sea due to climate change, and these are the same zones targetted by deep sea mining companies, hence these species of fish may be affected

Sediment pollution may damage gills and filter feeding apparatus of marine animals. Many marine animals are filter feeders, not just small ones like corals, but also large mammals like whale sharks

It is not meaningful to compare deep-sea and land mining, because deep-sea mining is not going to replace land mining. Should deep sea mining be approved, both will occur, hence there is risk to damaging the environment on two fronts.

Stop Deep Sea Mining Before it Begins!!

If your in Canada, please sign this petition to protect the deep sea. Apparently we’ve not yet started mining the deep sea, but we all know how hard it is to stop something profitable when it gets going!

https://act.gp/3KdQtTa

and if you’re in the USA: 

https://engage.us.greenpeace.org/6-YhFpwE3Uabcls1_nS8tA2?utm_source=website&utm_medium=actioncard&sourceid=1012578&_ga=2.213870036.1540959328.1681848093-1831250267.1681848093

Just wanted to share, because the petition doesn't have very many signatures. Also, support Greenpeace if you can!

The Undark Podcast. In this episode, join Erik Olsen and this month's host Lacy Roberts as they discuss the potential promise and peril of mining the deep ocean for minerals.

https://undark.org/2022/08/03/podcast-63-mining-deep-ocean-minerals/