The seafood industry has entered the ongoing debate surrounding deep-sea mining as the International Seabed Authority (ISA) convenes to discuss proposals by Canada’s The Metals Company for seabed mineral exploitation in the Pacific. According to the mining company, the ocean floor holds valuable metals like nickel and cobalt that are essential for electric vehicle batteries, thereby supporting the global energy transition. However, environmental groups caution against the scheme, warning of potential irreversible damage to marine systems. These groups expect the ISA, the UN body regulating the sector, to halt the proposals. The recent expiration of a two-year rule mandating the ISA to establish regulations on deep-sea mining has escalated concerns about immediate exploitation. Notably, over a dozen ISA member countries, including France, Germany, Spain, and New Zealand, have called for a temporary ban or pause on deep-sea mining operations worldwide, while Norway plans to open up exploration in a substantial area of 280,000 square kilometers.
In light of these developments, the seafood industry has joined the discussion. The signatories of a letter advocating for the suspension of deep-sea mining development until a comprehensive assessment of its socioeconomic and environmental impacts can be conducted include the Global Tuna Alliance, which represents 48 industry partners accountable for 32% of the global tuna trade, and the Sustainable Seafood Coalition, representing 45 UK seafood organizations. Emphasizing the threat posed by deep-sea mining to the ocean and its inhabitants, the Global Tuna Alliance highlights potential habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, and adverse effects on fisheries and seafood supply. Daniel Suddaby, executive director at the Global Tuna Alliance, emphasizes the uncertainties associated with venturing into uncharted territory, from disrupted midwater ecosystems affecting food availability for tuna species to migration pattern disruptions caused by mining activities. With climate change dynamics further complicating the situation, caution is paramount.
Accompanying the letter is a new study published in the Nature Sustainability journal, which reveals the increasing overlap between bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin tuna fisheries in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and projected deep-sea mining operations due to climate change-induced shifts in these highly migratory species’ range. Consequently, if deep-sea mining progresses, conflicts and impacts on some of the world’s most valuable and significant fisheries may intensify. The study focuses on the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, an expanse of the Pacific Ocean southeast of Hawaii encompassing 1.1 million square kilometers of deep-sea mining exploration contracts.
Highlighting critical sectors of the economy dependent on the high seas’ biodiversity, study co-author Dr. Juliano Palacios Abrantes from the University of British Columbia emphasizes the uncertainty already surrounding the impact of climate change on tuna health and geographic range. Deep-sea mining is poised to compound this uncertainty, further endangering tuna species and the associated fisheries, warns Dr. Diva Amon, the study’s lead author from the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory at the University of California. Driven by a failure to recognize and address the risks tied to industrial activities, such as climate change, extinction of biodiversity, and pollution, the advent of deep-sea mining raises environmental concerns that cannot be overlooked.
Support for a moratorium on deep-sea mining also extends beyond the seafood industry. Over 800 marine science and policy experts from more than 44 countries worldwide, as well as the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, have called for a freeze on such mining activities. In response, The Metals Company argues that the clean energy transition necessitates trade-offs, asserting that billions of tonnes of metal will be extracted from the planet over the next 30 years to make this transition possible. Furthermore, the company argues that abyssal seafloor ecosystems hold significantly fewer life forms and store less carbon compared to land ecosystems. Extracting battery metals from seafloor nodules could mitigate the destruction of more biodiverse ecosystems, such as rainforests, which play a crucial role in the global climate cycle.