Yet significant uncertainties remain about the environmental impacts of this proposed industry, in which miners would send heavy machinery into the deep ocean to collect valuable minerals, such as manganese, cobalt, copper and nickel. Some animals can thrive by feeding on marine snow.2 In 1960, a bathyscaphe called Trieste went down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, which is the deepest point on Earth. There aren’t any plants at all in these depths, so all fish in the deep are carnivores. This article will dive into the depths of the deep sea, exploring its characteristics, life forms, and why it is essential for the Earth’s health. In July 2025, a request was made for the ISA Secretariat to investigate whether deep-sea mining companies applying for licenses and permits under the United States’ mining code are at risk of violating existing ISA exploration contracts. UNCLOS prohibits unilateral mining activities, and mining companies may have exploration contracts revoked if found to be in violation of this.
Sustainable Fishing Practices
- The other end grows into a feathered fan that lets them extract oxygen from the water.
- Less than five percent of food produced at the surface will make its way to the abyssal plain.
- The IUCN, the global conservation authority, classifies 10 of these species as endangered or critically endangered, eight as vulnerable to extinction, and three as near threatened.
- Then, when the sun comes out and there is enough light for predators to see them again, the zooplankton return to the deep darkness.
- Deep sea animals will often have enlarged eyes that can pick up even the faintest light, ensuring a rare encounter leads to a meal or a mating.
- The engagement with this environment is highly mediated—through research vessels, remote sensors, autonomous machines, graphs, images, algorithms, and other technologies.
- In these areas, seawater seeps into cracks in the seafloor, heating up as it meets molten rock beneath the crust and then rising again to gush out of seafloor openings.
These layers of ocean ooze are important carbon sinks—drawing down the decomposing bits of carbon, laying them to rest on the seafloor, and finally burying them. Bioluminescence first arose roughly 540 million years ago in a group of corals known as the octocorals. Animals can use their light to lure prey towards their mouths, or even to light up the area nearby so that they can see their next meal a bit better. Sometimes the prey being lured can be small plankton, like those attracted to the bioluminescence around the beak of the Stauroteuthis octopus.
Exploring the Deep Sea: Why It’s Fascinating, Vital, and Worth Protecting
Its margin, referred to as the continental shelf, can extend up to 500 metres below the water’s surface; only after this point does the deep sea begin. In contrast, in most other regions, this transition begins just 200 metres below sea level. Between 1840 and 1880, British and American scientists and hydrographers extensively studied the deep sea, a period marked by heightened cultural fascination with maritime depths. Scientific exploration during this era intersected with a broader acknowledgment of the economic and social importance of the maritime world, shaped by mid-nineteenth century maritime practices, technologies, and cultures. This setting was characterised by a masculine naval culture, physical challenges, and harsh conditions—a blending of scientific inquiry with maritime work cultures.
Red Sea crisis
- Scientists, including Quattrini, continue to discover additional species that call deep sea coral reefs home, showing that there is still much to learn about the deep sea.
- The ‘deep-sea’ is a catch-all term that encompasses a wide range of habitats from the twilight open ocean, through globe-spanning ocean ridges, the vast rolling hills of the abyssal plains, all the way to 11km down in the deepest trenches.
- In 1999, the institute established a long-term observatory in Fram Strait between Greenland and Svalbard.
- These nodules are thought to contain higher concentrations of transition metals and REEs.
- Soon the skeleton is picked clean, but the fall is far from nutrient depleted.
- The cracks release buried petroleum-based gas and liquid from deep underground where they formed over millions of years.
Some scholars have even called for the Middle Passage to be formally recognised as cultural heritage within the legal framework of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which governs DSM activities in international waters (Turner et al. 2020). Indeed, ‘the blue archive and the blue frontier are two sides of the same coin’ (Han 2024, 30), and special attention must be paid to how we collectively make sense of the deep sea. This perspective challenges visions of the ‘cyborgs of the deep’ as the only ‘heroes’ that will allow society to meet the requests of the ‘Green Shift’, i.e. of transitioning towards more environmentally friendly ways of living (Palermo and Steinberg 2024, 9). The deep sea is populated by ‘unseen bodies … whose hauntings persist’ even as their stories are obscured by the plumes of the remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) used to collect minerals (Palermo and Steinberg 2024). Recognising these ghosts and incorporating Black history into our understanding of the deep sea means examining the relationship between colonialism, exploration and the ocean.
In short, President Trump’s executive order bypasses international regulation, placing the United States on a collision course with both the ISA and China. In 2024, ISA controlled deep-sea mining in roughly 54 percent of the world’s ocean through specialized contracts, regulations, and procedures. However, the US refused to ratify UNCLOS in 1982, specifically due to its provisions on deep-sea mining, and is Deep Sea not a member of the ISA. Previously, this lack of membership was not a significant point of contention.
Sharks and oysters set to thrive in warmer UK waters
In these areas, seawater seeps into cracks in the seafloor, heating up as it meets molten rock beneath the crust and then rising again to gush out of seafloor openings. The water that emerges from them can reach temperatures of 400 °C and is extremely rich in minerals. Cold seeps are similar to hydrothermal vents as they also occur in tectonically active locations, but they emit hydrocarbon-rich fluids. The palette ranges from plastic bags and fragments, to glass bottles and the remains of fishing nets, to paint buckets. Packages and bags have been discovered that have apparently been on the seafloor for decades, virtually untouched by time.
The study notes that filter feeders and light-sensitive species might be particularly vulnerable to these kinds of stressors. From the 1970s into the 1980s, the United States led the production and refinement of REEs, processing roughly three times more REE than the rest of the world combined. However, as early as the 1960s, China took notice and began investing, taking over the United States’s historical dominance by the 1990s. In 2024, China possessed 60 percent of the global REEs market and processed 90 percent of the global REEs market. Seeking further REE supply, China has increased its investment in the burgeoning industry of deep-sea mining. Deep-sea mining would involve extracting rocky deposits called polymetallic nodules or manganese nodules from the bottom of the ocean floor.
Threats to the Deep Sea
The deep sea is not yet a distinct subfield within anthropology, nor is it likely to become one. It will probably be integrated into the broader domain of the anthropology of the ocean. Yet this does not diminish its significance as a site for anthropological reflection. On the contrary, the issues raised by scholars engaging with the deep sea are deeply anthropological in nature. They involve questions of otherness and estrangement, which unsettle terrestrial assumptions and challenge conventional ethnographic methods. The deep sea also invites to contemplate concepts such as chaos and disorder, and to critically examine the politics of corporate legitimacy.
Species potentially impacted by sulfide mining included chocolate skates, Portuguese dogfish (Centroscymnus coelolepis), great lantern sharks (Etmopterus princeps) and small-eyed rabbitfish. Cobalt-rich ferromanganese crust mining could impact 21 of the identified species, the study showed, including whale sharks, cookiecutter sharks (Isistius brasiliensis) and sicklefin devil rays (Mobula tarapacana). As the global energy transition accelerates, the ocean floor has emerged as the next frontier in critical mineral competition between the United States and China, as both countries seek geopolitical and energy dominance. Modern economies depend on a consistent and constant supply of energy, and the United States and China recognize the importance of rare earth elements (REEs) in continuing innovation and energy security.
Polyphonic in nature, this entry invites readers to explore the deep sea through multiple social science perspectives, collectively capturing its complexity and significance. The study indicates that sulfide and crust mining would likely pose the most significant and direct risks to sharks, rays and chimaeras, mainly because of the substantial overlap between these species and the mining areas. For instance, 26 of the 30 species identified in the study inhabit zones proposed for sulfide mining, and some of them lay their eggs around vent systems, where sulfide mineral deposits occur.
What’s the Current Status of Deep-Sea Mining?
Tethered to a life at the surface because they require breathable oxygen, many large animals will make impressive dives to the deep sea in search of their favorite foods. Sperm whales, southern elephant seals, leatherback sea turtles, emperor penguins, and beaked whales are especially good divers. A Cuvier’s beaked whale is known to dive 9,816 feet (2,992 m) deep, and can stay down as long and 3 hours and 42 minutes, making it the deepest diving mammal in the world. As the sun sets, fish and zooplankton make massive migrations from the depths up to the ocean’s surface. Despite their small size (some no bigger than a mosquito), these creatures can travel hundreds of meters in just a few hours.
Here we bring together the latest deep-sea science, traditional knowledge, and expert insights that shape our work to safeguard these incredible habitats and species. Through blogs, interviews, fact files, and stories from those working in and with the deep, we shine a light on why the deep sea matters and why it needs our protection. Despite its importance, the deep sea faces significant threats, from deep-sea mining and overfishing to pollution and climate change. By protecting this fragile ecosystem, we’re preserving the life it holds, the climate it regulates, and the mysteries it continues to reveal.
Some in the mining industry say the mining is necessary to a green transition – and essential to democratizing that transition globally since the supply chain is currently dominated by a single country, China. Meanwhile, some scientists caution against mining before the full scope of environmental damage can be understood. In addition to discharging wastewater below 2,000 m, it proposes that international organizations and conservation bodies, such as the ISA and IUCN, regularly update evaluations of deep-sea mining threats to chondrichthyans.
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