Life is full of tradeoffs: Will sea mining destroy bottom-dwelling sea life?

See The Science Behind Mining for Riches on the Deep-Sea Floor by Eric Niiler of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Ocean scientists are racing to determine whether marine life can coexist with machines that rake their habitat for undersea treasure."

"The aim is to vacuum up rocks containing cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese—elements used in electric-vehicle batteries, smartphones, medical devices and artificial-intelligence hardware."

"Assessing the value of these minerals is difficult because the cost of bringing them to the surface is unknown and market prices fluctuate."

A study "put the potential commercial value of the undersea minerals at $20 trillion."

"A 2023 survey of marine life in the proposed mining area by the Natural History Museum of London found that 90% of marine creatures living near the nodules are new species, challenging the idea that the vast mining area is an ecological wasteland."

"Conservationists say that sea mining will destroy this bottom-dwelling sea life, while mud and debris from the mining process will disturb shallower parts of the ocean."

"Thomas Peacock, professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, . . . measured the plumes of sediment stirred up by mining machines and found that the sediment didn’t travel as far as originally believed, and might do less damage to some kinds of marine life."

"life is returning to areas of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone that underwent similar tests in 1979, suggesting that the environmental impact might be limited to the mining site."

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