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  • NEWS EXPLAINER

Deep-sea mining could soon be approved — how bad is it?

The creatures at the bottom of the ocean are little-studied, but emerging data hint at long-term damage from efforts to harvest metals on the sea floor.
  1. Natasha Gilbert

    1. Natasha Gilbert is a freelance writer in Washington, DC.

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Commercial mining of the sea floor could soon get the green light. The International Seabed Authority (ISA), a body associated with the United Nations that oversees deep-sea mining in international waters, is now meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, where it could decide whether companies can begin excavating the sea floor for minerals and metals such as cobalt, nickel and sulfides.

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Nature 619, 684 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02290-5

References

  1. Rabone, M. et al. Curr. Biol. 33, 2383–2396 (2023).

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