The largest habitat on Earth, the deep sea, could be affected by underwater noise pollution from mining operations, according to new research published in the journal Science.
Scientists from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan, the University of Hawaii, and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Australia funded the study.
Many of the organisms found in the deep sea use sound to navigate, communicate, find mates, and detect dangers.
A group of contractors are exploring the possibility of mining in a 4.5 million square kilometer area between Hawaii and Mexico. An area larger than the European Union would have elevated noise levels if each of the contractors launched a single mine. Efforts to preserve areas with no mining impact, known as "preservation reference areas", could be undermined by this level of mining activity.
Rob Williams said that he was surprised by how easy it would be for noise from just one or two mines to affect nearby areas. We need to compare the preservation reference areas to the sites where mining is taking place in order to understand the impacts of mining. There are preservation zones and mining sites.
"Our modeling suggests that mining noise could impact areas far beyond the actual mining sites, which are required under draft mining regulations to be unaffected by mining," said Craig R. Smith, a professor at the University of Hawaii. The number of mining operations allowed within the CCZ may need to be reexamined.
Although mining companies are testing small-scale prototypes of deep-sea mining systems, they haven't shared their data on underwater noise pollution. The Science article had to use noise levels from ships in the oil and gas industry and coastal dredges. When the data is available, Andrew Friedman, project director of the seabed mining project, says they're more likely to be higher than the proxy data. These are likely conservative estimates.
Predicting the noise of future equipment and installations is a challenge but we don't have to wait until the first mines are operational to discover the noise they make. We can better prepare for how this might impact marine life by knowing the level of noise in the engineering design phase.
The International Seabed Authority, the intergovernmental organization that regulates all mineral activities in areas beyond national jurisdiction, could be forced to complete regulations that would allow large-scale mining by July 2023 if the island nation of Nauru invokes a United Nations rule. Despite concerns that the science and governance surrounding mining in the deep ocean remain inadequate, the move came despite that.
It is unlikely that adequate data to assess the ecological risks from mining noise will be collected before the deadline. A growing number of countries, experts, corporations, and environmental organizations are calling for a halt to any seabed mining, unless and until science and management can be put in place that ensure that mining will not cause harm to the marine environment. The study shows how little is known about mining's potential impacts, not just on the deep ocean, but throughout the water column.
According to a deep-sea ecologist at AIST, the deep sea houses millions of species that have yet to be identified. While much work is still needed to determine the extent and magnitude of environmental impacts from deep-sea mining, we have a unique opportunity to understand and mitigate human impacts to the environment before they occur.
More information: Rob Williams, Noise from deep-sea mining is likely to ensonify vast ocean areas, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abo2804. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo2804 Journal information: Science
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