Bottom trawling in European waters costs society up to €11bn a year, new study finds.

A first-of-its-kind study released today found that this cost is largely due to carbon dioxide emissions from disturbed sediments on the seafloor.

The study is the first to measure the full economic cost of bottom trawling in European waters - including the EU, UK, Norway and Iceland.

https://mediafaro.org/article/20250325-bottom-trawling-in-european-waters-costs-society-up-to-11bn-a-year-new-study-finds?mf_channel=mastodon&action=forward

As countries scramble for minerals, the #seabed beckons. Will mining it be a disaster? – visual explainer - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2025/mar/12/as-countries-scramble-for-minerals-the-seabed-beckons-will-mining-it-be-a-disaster-visual-explainer well obvs...

A UN body that regulates deep international waters is preparing to elect its next leader,
a crucial position as it faces pressure to either ban, approve or place a moratorium on #seabed #mining.

The upcoming election comes as the Jamaica-based International Seabed Authority ended a two-week session on Friday without reaching a consensus on a regulatory framework for deep-sea mining.

The drawn-out debate raises concerns that the authority could receive an application later this year seeking the first deep sea mining exploitation license without having rules or regulations in place.

The Metals Company, a Canadian-based mining company, is largely expected to be the first to apply for such a license.

Mining exploration has been ongoing in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone,
which covers 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) between Hawaii and Mexico.

It is occurring at depths ranging from 13,000 to 19,000 feet (4,000 to 6,000 meters).

However, no exploitation licenses have been issued.

That could soon change given that some companies and countries are eager to mine the seabed and meet a surging demand for #precious #metals including cobalt, nickel and copper that are used in green technology.

More than two dozen countries have called for a ban, pause or moratorium on deep-sea mining.

Companies including BMW and Samsung SDI also have pledged not to use raw materials from deep-sea mining.

However, proponents of deep-sea mining say it is cheaper and has less of an impact than land mining.

Olav Myklebust, the authority's council president, told reporters Friday that there are still outstanding issues regarding a proposed regulatory framework, including inspection, compliance and enforcement and how best to determine payments related to exploitation.

He and secretary general Michael Lodge, who is seeking a third term, did not say if exploitation should start despite the absence of rules and regulations.

https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/international-seabed-authority-to-conduct-polls-amid-deep-sea-mining-debate-124072700323_1.html

Absent an agreement on the #seabed being the common heritage of humankind, the UN mandated International Seabed Authority (ISA) has been licensing #deepseamining projects in international waters; #China has the most successful applications

Guy Standing (FT) thinks 'there is a distinct risk that we could see what would amount to the biggest resource grab in history'!

Some have argued for a moratorium on #ecological grounds, but the #mining lobby citing the #GreenTransition is gaining ground!

This is a horrendous situation to be in. The deep sea is a huge & biodiverse wilderness. These nodules can take two MILLION years to form. We absolutely do not need minerals from the seabed - battery designers are designing them out - and it will be almost impossible to monitor the significant damage that mining would cause. We must say no.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/08/future-of-deep-sea-mining-hangs-in-balance-as-opposition-grows?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other #ocean #Seabed

An additional 5.4 million square kilometres of new data - equating to an area twice the size of Argentina - has been added to the definitive #map of the world’s #ocean floor, with 24.9 per cent of the #seabed now #mapped.

https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/hsh-prince-albert-ii-monaco-announces-quarter-ocean-now-mapped

"Is it too late to halt deep-sea mining? Meet the activists trying to save the seabed - If mining companies are given the go-ahead to exploit the ocean depths, the environmental cost will be devastating. As the clock ticks down to a crucial deadline in July, Michael Segalov (Guardian) reports"

"For almost 30 years, much of what went on at the secretive-sounding International Seabed Authority (ISA) in Jamaica was unreported and scarcely noticed ... There have been allegations of secrecy and interference against its governing body and of legal loopholes being exploited. After discussions chugged along quietly for decades, a growing community of campaigners, scientists and now governments are raising an urgent alarm about what’s happening within these walls. They argue that unless immediate action is taken, it might be too late to halt the devastating environmental and ecological impact of mining the global high seas. Their warning is simple: humanity’s insatiable appetite to plunder the planet for profit might mean some of the Earth’s most untouched corners are exploited before we even understand what it is we risk losing. As Louisa Casson, who is leading Greenpeace’s global campaign to stop deep-sea mining, puts it: “It’s a threat, continental in scale, that until recently nobody was even talking about ...
Regardless, due to a quirk in an ageing international treaty, deep-sea mining might happen in a matter of months after the pulling of a legal lever by a Canadian-owned company and the government of Nauru."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/21/is-it-too-late-to-halt-deep-sea-mining-the-activists-trying-to-save-the-seabed