Seabed Minerals Authority senior technical officer Rima Browne has led the creation of a new seabed map – the first of its kind for the Cook Islands.
Seabed mining can affect fisheries and the flow-on social equity issues need to be addressed. What is currently hundreds of meters down below the ocean floor could soon be found in our electronics and on construction sites.
Mining the ocean floor for submerged minerals is a little-known, experimental industry. But soon it will take place on the deep seabed, which belongs to everyone, according to international law.
