Tuna swimming vigorously
A groundbreaking study has revealed an alarming threat to tuna species in the eastern Pacific Ocean. As climate change drives the tuna into the open ocean, deep-sea mining poses a significant danger to their new habitat.
Renowned scientist Dr Diva Amon, a research expert from the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Director and Founder of NGO SpeSeas, has shed light on the potential crisis. According to Dr. Amon, climate pressures will compel bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin tuna to seek refuge in the deep-ocean zone of the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Dr. Amon warns that these highly-mobile tuna populations will migrate eastward from their current range near small Pacific nations, only to discover inhospitable conditions caused by deep-sea mining.
Dr. Amon serves as the lead author of a paper published in the journal npj Ocean Sustainability, which highlights the dangers within the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean. This area, located southeast of Hawaii, encompasses over 1.1 million square kilometers of deep-sea mining exploration contracts, accounting for 11% of the land area of the United States.
The potential extraction of nodules from deep-sea mining holds promise as a source of scarce minerals. However, scientific evidence increasingly suggests the detrimental impacts on the sea floor, as well as the creation of plumes in the water caused by mining activity.
Describing deep-sea mining as an underwater combine harvester, Dr. Amon emphasizes the irreversible damage caused by removing the top layer of soil, which houses a majority of marine life.
After separating the nodules from the sediment, waste materials are then discarded back into the ocean by mining vessels. The consequences of this waste disposal, including its dispersion within the water column and potential introduction of toxic metals into the food chain, remain uncertain.
Dr. Amon states, “Deep-sea mining does not only impact the deep ocean; it also poses risks to wider ocean ecosystems and economies that heavily rely on these resources, particularly some of the world’s most vulnerable economies.”
The researchers behind the study highlight the profound risks that changes in tuna locations pose to the economies, livelihoods, and well-being of small Pacific island nations and other coastal countries. These risks are compounded by the loss of biodiversity and habitats resulting from deep-sea mining.
Dr. Juliano Palacios Abrantes, co-author of the study and associated with the University of British Columbia, expresses concerns about the impact of both climate change and deep-sea mining on tuna species and associated fisheries.
Impacts on the Global South
Dr. Amon underscores that the Global South will bear the brunt of the consequences of deep-sea mining, despite lacking the resources to conduct their own research in the deep sea.
She explains, “Currently, the Clipperton Zone accounts for approximately 21% of Mexico’s reported fish catch. Many Global South countries in the eastern Pacific may rely more heavily on this tuna migration, but deep-sea mining could jeopardize their catch.”
Dr. Amon’s childhood experiences in Trinidad and Tobago fuel her deep-sea biology advocacy. Having grown up surrounded by the ocean, she is driven by a desire to preserve the deep sea for future generations.
According to Dr. Amon, the study of deep-sea biology is an expensive field, as it requires research in remote locations and extreme conditions.
She points out, “In the Global South, we lack access to the deep ocean, which is primarily studied by a handful of countries in the Global North.”
Another scientist from the Global South, Kenyan marine biologist Nelly Isigi Kadagi, is also actively involved in the conservation of large fish species.
Despite growing up far from the sea, Dr. Kadagi now plays a crucial role in the conservation of billfish species such as marlin and swordfish.
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