Ecoblogi – A Blog by Daniel Elkama

About 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans, and a large part of the world’s minerals are found on the seabed. Norway became the first country to allow commercial mining on the seabed in 2023. Deep sea mining is mining on the seabed, which has very destructive effects on marine ecosystems in many ways. Traditionally, mining is one of the most environmentally damaging forms of human activity and land use. Seabed mines are even more destructive than surface mines. Mining in the sea is like the ”wild west” without proper regulation. Over the past couple of years, multinational mining giants have started deep sea mining in, for example, Norway and Papua New Guinea in their maritime areas. Deep sea mining is justified by the fact that the green transition, electrification and digitalization require more minerals, such as gold, cobalt, silver and zinc. This is a complete lie and greenwashing. We don’t need seabed minerals when we have terrestrial mines and can recycle metals almost endlessly. Consumption should be reduced and energy and material efficiency should be developed to reduce the need for metals. Deep-sea mining is completely pointless and is really driven by greed and the pursuit of quick profits. This is short-sighted and leads to the complete destruction of entire marine ecosystems.

Deep-sea mining may not arouse emotions in many people because it is hidden ”out of sight, out of mind” below the sea surface. However, it is an extremely brutal, cruel and cruel operation that kills millions of marine animals and plants at once. Deep-sea mining is a truly ugly and dirty game: it involves the cutting up of turtles, sea urchins, starfish, corals and others alive. We can talk about mass murder. As mentioned, the entire marine ecosystem is destroyed in the area where the excavations are carried out. In addition, a large amount of toxic heavy metals and sulfides are released into the sea, which spread over a wide area of the sea and kill marine life. Blasting, drilling and machinery create a shocking noise that disturbs numerous marine animals, including whales. Seabed mining is not only extremely harmful, but also pointless, and an international agreement would be needed to ban it in all marine areas of the world.