Mining the deep seabed for valuable metallic minerals could begin soon. The UN regulatory body, International Seabed Authority, is finalizing regulations to govern mining activity in international waters. Supporters of seabed mining say that digging for minerals on the seabed is far less destructive than on land, and would help meet short supplies of minerals used in the transition to alternative energy sources. However of concern to conservationists is the paucity of data concerning the effect of deep sea mining activity on cetaceans that transit mining locations and forage in the deep sea using sonar.
Seabed mining is noisy. Scientists think that frequencies that overlap with communications frequencies used by cetaceans could lead to behavior changes and interfere with their ability to locate food. While some information has been collected for seabed dwelling fauna, that is not the case for mobile marine mammals like whales, dolphins and porpoises.
One form of mining is the dredging of polymetalic nodules containing copper, cobalt, and titanium from the abyssal plains. All of these material are used in renewable energy technologies. A Pacific island nation, Nauru sponsors a Canadian company involved in a proposal to begin mining within two years under a provision of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that allows mining to take place under existing regulations. Some member nations like New Zealand, France, Chile and Palau want to impose a moratorium on seabed mining as do companies like Renault, BMW and Samsung SDI out an abundance of caution since so little is known of environmental impacts and the potential for irreparable damage to ancient ecosystems that support life on the planet. [mining equipment painted green; photo credit, Greenpeace]
It is reasonable to assume that commercial mining operations would be conducted 24/7, emitting a variety of frequencies that could disrupt normal behaviors of creatures that rely on sound in a region of the Earth's surface that previously had no human created noise. There has been no independent, peer- reviewed of the effect of these mining related noise on cetations. The Canadian company, TMC is required to submit to the ISA acoustic data it is collecting as part of its environmental impact statement when applying for an operating license. Noise is not the only problem that could impact these animals. Sediment plumes from seabed mining vehicles could increase water column turbidity and mobilize contaminates previously undisturbed by man. Man's environmental track record when opening new frontiers for exploitation has been disastrous. There is no reason to think seabed mining will be any different.