Mining May Threaten Newly Discovered Ocean Ecosystems

[annabanana]

https://www.insidescience.org/news/brief-mining-may-threaten-newly-discovered-ocean-ecosystems

"We found some marvelous communities," said Christopher Kelley, program biologist for NOAA's Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory at Manoa and one of the expedition's leaders. "Each one is different."

The only other known examples of dense deep-sea animal communities are at sites such as methane seeps and hydrothermal vents, where life can get energy from organic chemicals rather than sunlight. But even though they live in darkness, crust communities ultimately get their energy from the sun, feeding on organic matter that drifts down from above. This rain of food is scarce across most of the ocean, but researchers suspect that rapid currents bring more of it to crust communities. Nevertheless, the limited food supply probably means that crust communities grow slowly, says Scott France, a biologist at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and another expedition leader.

Most of the ecosystems the researchers discovered are protected, but not all similar communities are so lucky. Mining companies have long been interested in ferromanganese crusts, especially on the relatively accessible flat tops of guyots. The International Seabed Authority granted the first mining permits to China and Japan in 2013, and since then, Korea and Russia have also received permits for exploratory crust mining. Kelley fears that such actions are premature. Before leasing out seamounts, he says, people should map out the areas, learn where animals live, and get some idea of what the world stands to lose.

It's clear that nowhere is safe from the extraction industries.