PAGOPAGO, 22 JULY 2026 (PMN) — A new scientific warning is adding to growing Pacific opposition as the United States moves ahead with plans to auction offshore deep-sea mining leases near American Sāmoa later this year. Researchers and environmental groups say mining could release naturally occurring radioactive materials into the ocean, raising fresh questions about […]
Tag: polymetallic nodules
Posted inPacific News
Deep sea ‘gold rush’ could be a death sentence for Pacific biodiversity – report
AUCKLAND, 06 MAY 2026 (PMN)—A landmark review of 50 years of data has delivered a chilling verdict on deep sea mining: the impact on Pacific ecosystems will be “dire and long-lasting,” potentially wiping out undiscovered species before they are even named. The study, published in Current Biology, comes as the Pacific remains the global “ground […]
Posted inIn Focus
Deep-sea wildernesses are more important than the promise of seafloor mining
Analysis by Andrew D. Thaler SUVA, 15 APRIL 2026 (MONGABAY)—When I set sail on the MV NorSky in the summer of 2008 to probe the depths of Manus Basin off the coast of Papua New Guinea, I believed in the promise of deep-sea mining. As an early-career deep-sea ecologist, I was swayed by arguments in […]