Scientists Warn of Significant Harm From Ocean

In a circular economy, ocean oxygen levels have plummeted in the last ten years. This is a worrying trend linked to climate change. Based on findings showing the rate, speed, and implications of change in the global ocean are higher, faster, and more imminent than previously assumed, a worldwide panel of marine scientists, including IUCN experts, is calling for immediate remedies to stem ocean degradation. To avoid climate change, we have to take some actions to maintain ecology in a circular economy.

• Scientists are not surprised that warming oceans are losing oxygen, but the magnitude of the loss requires immediate action, according to Oschlies. According to some recent studies, oxygen levels in some tropical regions have plummeted by 40% in the last 50 years. Levels have fallen more subtly elsewhere, with a global average loss of 2%.

Why scientist warns 

Although being primarily investigated, the ocean’s mid-depth waters contain rich biomass intimately linked to humanity. During mining, vast amounts of mud and dissolved chemicals would be discharged and a great deal of noise—all of which may move vertically and horizontally for considerable distances. However, no research has been done on the possible effects of mining outside of the environment immediately adjacent to extraction activities.

Mining impacts on environment

“The study reveals that mining and its environmental implications are not limited to thousands of feet below the surface but may also harm the seas above the seafloor,” said Pierre Dutrieux, an oceanographer at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “Damage to midwater ecosystems might impact fisheries, release metals into food webs that could end up in our seafood supply, disrupt carbon sequestration in the deep ocean, and lower biodiversity,” says the report.

• “Mining is on the rise, but we don’t have enough scientific information to understand and control the effects on deep pelagic ecosystems.” “More research is urgently needed,” said Jeffrey Drazen, the article’s principal author and a professor of oceanography at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.

The International Seabed Authority is obligated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to ensure the adequate protection of the marine environment, particularly deep midwater ecosystems, against negative consequences resulting from mining-related activities. Mining impacts on the midwater column must be included in research programs and the creation of legislation before mining commences to avoid environmental harm.