Mirage News

May 4, 2020

Researchers from Senckenberg am Meer (Senckenberg by the Sea) and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources developed a new method intended for establishing protection zones for the deep-sea fauna in the Clarion-Clipperton fracture zone.

The abyssal plain is earmarked for the potential extraction of manganese nodules. In their study, published today in the Journal of Applied Ecology, the team advocates the timely establishment of preservation zones from which deep-sea species can recolonize destroyed areas.

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Forbes

March 16, 2020
[…] At the same time, the race is now on to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, ahead of any second wave of infections later this year.

[…]

Last week among the COVID-19 headlines, David Attenborough made a plea calling for Deep Ocean Seabed Mining to be banned.  One of the reasons he cited was the importance of deep water corals and microscopic microbes at the bottom of the ocean.

It turns out, these are extremely valuable for modern medicine, including addressing coronaviruses.

A protein from an ocean seabed algae found among coral reefs was revealed to show activity against another coronavirus known as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or MERS. 

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Oceanographic

March 11, 2020
Sir David Attenborough has urged countries to halt plans to mine the deep sea. This comes in light of a recently published report from scientists at Fauna & Flora International (FFI) warning that deep sea mining is likely to cause significant disruption to the ocean’s life-support systems, its carbon capture and a loss of biodiversity.

The report is the first to comprehensively assess the risks and potential impacts of mining the deep seabed for minerals. Its publication comes ahead of a July meeting of key countries hoping to finalise the rules that will govern deep sea mining.

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