The mining industry has found another metaphorical gold rush and it’s lying at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Environmentalists who are worried about the impact of deep sea mining on marine ecosystems are hoping that the large number of firms looking for ocean floor mining permits is not entertained.
A conference in Fiji starting on Monday hopes to throw the subject open to discussion. The ecosystems of the sea bed need urgent rescuing as per environmentalists who are involved in the effort. The new advances in technology that make it easier to mine sea floors are posing a grave risk to the world’s water bodies.
The damage to sea life from illegal fishing and sea bottom trawling is nothing when compared to the destructive nature of sea bed mining. As unmanned vehicles with caterpillar tracks move through the seabed with grinding and cutting equipment their fears seem justified.
Motivated by financial gain prospectors will go to great lengths to gain buried treasures from the sea bed. As gold and copper deposits are plentiful in former volcanoes that are currently submerged in the Pacific Ocean they have no qualms about accessing these massive deposits using whatever means possible.
These undersea adventures for the mining industry may well lead to the next big eco system collapse, warn environmentalists who are opposed to such mining tactics. The studies for revealing impact of deep sea bed mining are not yet conclusive about long term effects but short terms ones can already be seen in sea life around the area.