Deep Sea Mining's Alarming Impact on $5.5bn Tuna Industry
According to a recent study published in the journal Nature of Ocean Sustainability, deep-sea mining operations pose a significant threat to the $5.5 billion tuna industry. The study highlights that climate change is expected to drive tuna species into areas targeted for deep-sea mining in the Pacific Ocean. Researchers utilized climate models to predict that by the mid-century, bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin tuna biomass will increase by an average of 21% in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone—an extensive region between Hawaii and Mexico that is earmarked for mining valuable metals. This projected increase in the overlap between tuna and mining activities could exacerbate conflicts, leading to environmental and economic repercussions in a climate-altered ocean.
The potential damage to the Pacific tuna industry from mining operations is multifaceted. Mining companies plan to deploy large robots to the ocean floor, extracting polymetallic nodules that contain cobalt, nickel, and other metals. This process would create sediment plumes that could spread over vast distances. Furthermore, the transportation and processing of nodules would release mining waste back into the ocean, potentially impacting the breathing, feeding, and stress hormone levels of tuna and their prey. The release of toxic metals during mining, along with the noise and light associated with extraction operations, could further harm tuna health and disrupt their breeding and migration patterns.
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