Watch the Advent of Deep Sea Mining Unfold with this Big Data Tool
Vince.com
Becky Ferriera
October 5th, 2016
Deep sea mining while not new is something that will soon begin to reach major expansion as manufacturing on tools needed to extract precious minerals from within the earth have reached maturity and approval for use. The new tool, which was revealed at the Dreamforce conference uses the automated identification system (AIS) that is already used by large vessels in order to determine distance from other large vessels (to avoid collisions), and protection agencies who use AIS in order to track fishing vessels in protected areas. The tool would allow individuals to see where the mining is taking place and would work more for transparency on what action was taking place in the open waters, and more importantly where; tracking the mining vessels in order to promote responsible behavior.
The bigger question is should this (deep sea mining) be happening in the first place? The phrase "unchartered waters" holds a lot of truth in this situation and while those who reside above the surface will most likely benefit from the various resources that are to be extracted from the beneath the sea floor, the truth of the matter is that in doing such an extraction we will no doubt be causing major disruption to an incredibly delicate eco-system that we as a species know nothing about. What are the long term effects? What marine life will be lost? What will be the structural repercussions to diving in to the deep end?
Regulations for deep sea mining are happening as more and more companies emerge in order to extract resources. There is high demand for minerals like copper and while some can make the argument as to why there should not be mining, especially when considering global warming and the potential to disrupt the absorption methods of the ocean for carbon dioxide (which is does at a max rate) mining companies are not really experiencing a lot of "no" from authorities in regards to their actions.
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I once had a professor during my undergrad who told me that there are so much life in the oceans and that we have probably only identified a small fraction of the life forms that live in the oceans because they are so deep, dark and cold that humans can't possibly travel into those areas to see the life that lives there. So when you mention that we are deep sea mining, I find myself thinking that we may disrupting an ecosystem that has supported this Earth from its creation, which has outlived many extinctions, including that of the Dinosaurs. If we disturb the creatures below the sea, without knowing the consequences of it, we may be worsening our case for survival along side them. This same professor once told me, "the Earth will take us humans out before we take it out." At the rate we are going, our extinction may not be too far from now.
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