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Trends
- 1Chinese deep-ocean drilling ship returns with South China Sea samples●Chinese deep-ocean drilling ship brings home ‘precious’ South China Sea samples
A Chinese deep-ocean drilling vessel has brought back core samples from the South China Sea, described by officials as scientifically precious. The mission is part of China's growing deep-sea exploration programme, and the retrieved material is expected to aid research into the seabed's geology and resource potential.
- 2Pollution threatening deep sea bioluminescent life, experts warn●More plastic, less glow? Pollution threatens deep sea’s bioluminescent life, experts warn
Environmental experts are warning that plastic pollution in the deep ocean may be interfering with the bioluminescent organisms that live there. Pollution particles could block or mimic the light signals deep sea species rely on for feeding, mating and defence, potentially disrupting entire ecosystems in one of the planet's least explored environments.
- 3Scientists and fishermen urge continued funding for deep-ocean observation●Scientists, fishermen want feds to keep funding deep-ocean observation system
Scientists and fishermen in the United States are calling on federal agencies to maintain funding for a deep-ocean observation system that tracks conditions in waters important to both research and commercial fishing. Supporters say the system provides valuable long-term data on ocean health, and that cutting it would leave researchers and industry without critical information about changing deep-sea conditions.
- 4Critics link bottom trawling and deep-sea mining as twin threats●What makes bottom trawling and proposed deep-sea mining twin horrors is that same fundamental mechanism: taking ecosyste
Environmental commentators are arguing that bottom trawling and proposed deep-sea mining share the same destructive mechanism: both strip ecosystems that operate on geological timescales. Corals grow millimetres a year and ocean currents take centuries to settle sediment, so damage from either activity could be effectively permanent. The comparison is being made as commercial interest in mining the deep seabed for minerals continues to grow.