The Government is being accused of taking a weak stance at an international meeting to finalise the rules for mining the deep sea.
By participating in drafting regulations, New Zealand is helping to ‘green light’ the emerging industry, marine conservationists say. They argue the extraction of valuable polymetallic nodules will cause “unprecedented environmental destruction” to the Pacific Ocean.
And the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, Greenpeace and others want Jacinda Ardern’s Government to call for a moratorium on mining until scientists can learn more about deep sea ecosystems.
Large swaths of the seabed are covered with the blackened lumps, which contain deposits of multiple metals, including cobalt, copper, manganese and nickel. They are found up to 6500 metres deep in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.