Source: National Geographic
Author: Haley Cohen Gilliland
As the team lowered Nadir, a bulbous three-seat submarine, into the waters off of the Bahamian island of Eleuthera on June 29th, the rain that had pummeled them that afternoon began to wane. They were eager to interpret the improving weather as a good omen; a lot was riding on this dive.
Continue reading Scientists tag deep-sea shark hundreds of feet underwater—a first
Source: Discover Magazine
Author: Korey Haynes
Some of the most intriguing possibilities for finding life outside Earth are on water worlds like Europa or Enceladus — ocean moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn. However, those worlds are encased in layers of ice, meaning any ocean exploration will take place far beneath the surface.
Continue reading New SETI Project Will Practice Looking for Alien Life Near Deep-Sea Vents on Earth
Source: Mongabay
Author: Shreya Dasgupta
Continue reading here.
Source: Chinadialogue Ocean
Improved recycling and a circular economy negates the need for costly and damaging mining of the deep seabed.
Continue reading ‘Urban mining’ can save the deep seabed from exploitation
Source: Nature
Author: Johnathan Lambert
Valuable metals and minerals pepper the creature’s habitat, drawing commercial interest to the sea floor.
Continue reading Ocean snail is first animal to be officially endangered by deep-sea mining
Source: Greenpeace
Author: Louisa Casson
If you were planning to send monster machines down to a deep ocean habitat that’s full of creatures found nowhere else on Earth, you’d need a pretty good story to convince politicians that this was a good idea. Right now, that’s exactly what the deep sea mining industry is trying to come up with.
Source: The Commonwealth
A new illustrated book, co-published by the Commonwealth, seeks to educate children about seabed minerals and the impacts of their exploitation through deep sea mining.
Continue reading New book enlightens young readers on deep sea mining
Source: Greenpeace
If you follow artists and illustrators on Instagram, it is likely you’ve come across the #DrawThisInYourStyle challenge, where artists recreate others illustrations in their own unique style. Now the hashtag is being used to help bring to life a small, unique and unknown part of the ocean which is at risk from the mining industry.
Continue reading How an Instagram hashtag is inspiring thousands to protect the deep sea
Source: EcoWatch
Author: Greenpeace
When it comes to being otherworldly, alien and bizarre, the ocean has plenty to fuel the imagination and make your jaw drop: giant scuttling bugs, jelly-like blobfish, slimy mucus-drenched hagfish, hairy armed lobsters and almost anything else you could imagine.
It’s no big surprise that Hollywood science fiction films so often look to the deep for their monsters, landscapes and mystery. After all, the deep ocean is more alien to us than the surface of the moon.
But bizarrely, some scientists think the ocean floor might well be the very place where life on our planet first evolved.
Continue reading here.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday 5 July 2019
Countries fishing on the high seas of the Indian Ocean have continued to seriously fail to uphold their commitments to protect deep-sea ecosystems from deep water bottom fishing, said the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), as a fisheries management meeting for the Southern Indian Ocean came to an end today (5 July 2019).
At the conclusion of the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA) annual meeting in Mauritius, the DSCC, which represents over 80 non-governmental organizations, called on the body to seriously step up its protection of deep-sea ecosystems, vulnerable marine ecosystems, deep-sea sharks and toothfish. Deep-sea trawling continues to be permitted on seamounts in the region with inadequate constraints in place to protect deep-sea corals, sponges and other biodiversity hot spots.
Duncan Currie of the DSCC, who attended the meeting, said: “The inadequate decisions reached fail to adequately protect deep-sea ecosystems and species at a time when we know that we must escalate our collective efforts to protect the whole ocean. Governments need to step up and resist pressure by industry to weaken protection.”
The meeting addressed contentious issues, including the rapid increases in toothfish fishing by Spanish vessels in southern parts of the SIOFA area, adjacent to areas managed by CCAMLR, the international body for managing the Southern Ocean ecosystem. CCAMLR has taken measures to better manage its toothfish stocks. Also controversial was the decision to permit a bycatch of fragile sponges amounting 300 kg limit per trawl tow, over the recommended 60 kg limit. A DSCC request to reinsert a ban on removal of shark fins was rejected. The organization did agree a high seas inspection and boarding regime, which DSCC welcomes.
Duncan Currie said: “These fisheries agreements are supposed to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems such as sponges, not sanction their destruction.”
ENDS
The Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA) was signed in Rome the 7th July 2006 and entered into force in June 2012. To date, SIOFA has nine Contracting Parties: Australia, the Cook Islands, the European Union, France on behalf of its Indian Ocean Territories, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Thailand.
For further information please contact:
Duncan Currie in Mauritius on +64 21 632 335, duncanc@globelaw.com
or
Matt Gianni on +31-646 168 899, matthewgianni@gmail.com
