<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is wrapping up weeks of negotiations in Jamaica intended to determine whether and how the deep sea should be </span><a href="http://www.9news.com.au/mining" rel="" target="" title="mined"><span>mined</span></a><span> for critical minerals and metals.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Deep sea mining involves scraping the seabed for rocks, roughly the size of potatoes, called polymetallic nodules that are rich in the kinds of critical minerals required to make batteries and smartphones, such as nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Scientists and environmentalists are concerned commercial mining of the seabed could cause irreversible changes to the biodiversity of one of the most fragile and least understood ecosystems on earth.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/hulk-hogan-death-professional-wrestling-icon-dies-aged-71/59ffe311-b3cc-4b61-b162-1c5bd463ab9d" target="_blank"><strong><span>Hulk Hogan, icon in professional wrestling, dies at age 71</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A Global Day of Action to Stop Deep Sea Mining was held last week with paddle-out protests across Australia and the world.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The primary focus for deep-sea mining is an area of the deep Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico, known as the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ).</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In May, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in an effort to fast-track mining in both US and international waters and Canadian group The Metals Company has sought a permit from the Trump administration to begin commercial deep-sea mining in the CCZ.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/deep-sea-mining-hundreds-of-surfers-paddle-out-isa-meeting-environment-news/bb64bc50-2dc1-4134-bd93-d1d8b624b947" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The ISA, established in 1994 by the United Nations, is under pressure to set regulations for the extraction of mineral resources but is yet to reveal any outcomes from its meetings with delegates in Kingston, Jamaica, this month.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>To date, the ISA has only allowed exploration and test mining.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Thirty-seven countries have called for a moratorium or precautionary ban on commercial deep sea mining until the environmental risks are better understood. Australia is yet to sign on.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At a state level, New South Wales banned seabed petroleum and mineral mining off its coast last year and the Northern Territory has had a moratorium on seabed mining activities in its coastal waters since 2012.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/australian-man-found-dead-in-thailand-hotel-reports/fef47132-a214-4e7f-badb-4f73571cd279" target="_blank"><strong><span>Australian man 'found dead' in Thailand hotel</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Phil McCabe of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, who is attending the ISA meetings in Kingston, Jamaica, said Australia is "on the fence".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"ISA members are required by international law to ensure the protection of the marine environment from any mining activities," McCabe said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Mining is so inherently destructive that it simply should not and cannot go ahead.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Australia needs to step up and join many of its key international allies and support a moratorium."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>According to Surfrider Foundation Australia's Drew McPherson, who coordinated the paddle-out protests across Australia last week, the deep sea is a critical part of a healthy ocean and is where swells are created.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The science tells us that biodiversity loss would be unavoidable and that extinctions would be inevitable - when the ocean is already so vulnerable to human exploration, we simply can't afford to add to its exploitation by destructive deep-sea mining.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Renowned surfer and activist Dave Rastovich also joined the paddle-out.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Surfers throughout the world inhabit the closest waters and lands to where mining companies want to destroy the ocean floor," Rastovich said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We are so often the people who become ill when coastal waters are contaminated, and because of that we have a global community that has proven time and time again that we will stand in the way of a greedy few who do not understand the ocean and the power of the deep."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>This month, Australia's peak scientific body </span><a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/news/All/Articles/2025/July/Science-helps-deep-sea-mining-decision-makers-assess-environmental-risks-and-viability" target="_blank"><span>CSIRO released reports</span></a><span> to guide decision makers on how to protect deep sea ecosystems should mining go ahead.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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