Campaign to Ban Deep Sea Mining
This 11x17” poster features illustrations of deep sea creatures highlighting the unique biodiversity that is threatened by deep sea mining. Each illustration is numbered to match with the corresponding species name at the bottom of the poster. Profits support the work of Deep Sea Defenders.
Click here to order the poster.
Digital Copy also available.
Deep Sea Defenders is an organization dedicated to protecting the integrity of the deep sea environment, the organisms who live there, and the people who depend upon the health of the ocean for their traditional livelihoods. We oppose deep sea mining and support the call for a global ban.
Our vision is for a healthy ocean where natural communities thrive.
What is Deep Sea Mining?
Deep sea mining is a proposed expansion of the mining industry into the fragile deep ocean environment. Mining corporations want to extract metals found in areas of the sea below 200 meters.
They have focused on three types of mining.
1: The extraction of manganese nodules (also called polymetallic nodules) from abyssal plains
2: The extraction of cobalt-rich crusts from seamounts
3: The extraction of polymetallic sulphides from hydrothermal vents
All three varieties would be devastating to the organisms who inhabit those areas, and far beyond.
What are the risks of seabed mining?
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Habitat destruction
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Species extinction
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Noise and light pollution
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Sediment plumes that smother fish
There are currently no commercial mining operations in international waters, but there is growing pressure to begin exploitation, both in national and international waters.
The majority of the world’s oceans are located in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The seabed in these areas is under the jurisdiction of the International Seabed Authority (ISA).
The most imminent threat is to the Clarion Clipperton Zone, an area of the Pacific Ocean located between Mexico and Hawaii, targeted for manganese nodules containing small quantities of nickel, copper, and cobalt. The ISA has granted exploration leaseholds in this area to 16 deep-sea mining contractors, covering approximately 1 million square kilometers (400,000 square miles).
Among the silty substrate of the seabed in the Clarion Clipperton Zone, manganese nodules provide an essential hard surface for creatures like starfish, anemones, crustacean larvae, 4,000 year old corals, 11,000 year old sponges, and countless microbial species. As well as providing key habitat, they play a role in the carbon and nutrient cycles of the deep sea.
Seabed mining is incredibly risky and would cause irreversible damage to the oceans.
We have an opportunity to stop deep sea mining before it happens.
These countries/states have taken positions against deep-sea mining in international waters
Ban: France.
Moratorium: Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland, The French Polynesian assembly, The United Kingdom, Palau, Fiji, Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia.
Precautionary Pause: Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Monaco, Panama, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Vanuatu.
