Ocean Conservation & Tidalpunk

• Papua New Guinea’s prime minister, James Marape, opposes deep-sea mining in Papua New Guinea, according to comments made at the United Nations Ocean Conference and directly to Mongabay.
• Contradicting his position, however, is the governor of PNG’s New Ireland province, Walter Schnaubelt, who has vocally supported mining the Solwara 1 project and reportedly met with company and national government officials about extracting copper and gold from the seabed.
• From early on, the project has faced opposition from coastal communities living near the Solwara 1 site who are concerned about the impacts of mining on seafloor ecosystems and the fisheries on which they rely. In February 2025, they formally requested a forum to voice their grievances and hear responses from the companies involved, but have yet to receive a response, they say.
• The company originally awarded the mining license went bankrupt in 2019, and other companies have since tried to resuscitate the project, but without consulting communities or informing them of the risks associated with deep-sea mining, according to the communities. In July 2024, the companies carried out trial mining; government officials say they were unaware of the ship’s presence, but internal documents and emails suggest that key leaders were likely aware that trial mining was planned as early as 2022.

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The governments of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have announced their commitment to create a massive multinational Melanesian Ocean Reserve. If implemented as envisioned, the reserve would become the world’s first Indigenous-led ocean reserve, covering an area nearly as big as the Amazon Rainforest.

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Across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, where offshore wind energy is an exciting option for states to meet both climate goals and a rising demand for affordable, reliable energy, NWF advocates for the protection of important species like horseshoe crabs at every stage of offshore wind development and energy production.

While offshore wind energy development presents potential risks to wildlife, experts agree those risks can be significantly reduced through responsible siting, robust mitigation measures, and ongoing environmental monitoring.

Below are just a few of the measures NWF has supported to protect horseshoe crabs and other seafloor species throughout the offshore wind process.

• Communities in Papua New Guinea filed a lawsuit asking for a review of an environmental permit awarded in 2020 to companies for the Wafi-Golpu copper and gold mine. But a decision from the country’s Supreme Court had been delayed several times, before happening on June 12, even as other officials have signaled the government’s apparent support for the project.
• The villages are located near the outflow of a proposed pipeline that would carry mining waste, or tailings, from the mine and into the Huon Gulf.
• The companies say the method, known as deep-sea tailings placement (DSTP), would release the waste deep in the water column, below the layer of ocean most important for the fish and other sea life on which many of the Huon Gulf’s people rely.
• But community members are concerned this sediment and the potentially toxic chemicals it carries could foul the gulf — risks they say they were not adequately informed of.

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Costa Rica has protected 30 percent of its marine territory, and the small Central American country wants more care for the ocean, including a moratorium on deep sea mining.

...but they are still exploiting the ocean's inhabitants for profit:

"One of the most profitable activities that we have is deep sea fishing. These fish are caught for sport and released immediately. That generates a lot of work, jobs and income for coastal societies and protects the species. There is a lot to be gained from the ocean if we manage it correctly."

...and reforming the killing machine rather than abolishing it:

"We have reduced the catch of sharks enormously by collaborating together with the fishermen and changing fishing technology so it’s less harmful to sharks. We changed the fishing hook. We have also installed satellite tracking mechanisms on most of our ships, right, and the legal ships are reporting the ones doing illegal fishing."

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• Mongabay article
• latest study cited

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cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/23170867

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• Artificial upwelling is a form of geoengineering that aims to use pipes and pumps to channel cool, nutrient-rich water from the deep ocean to the surface. In doing so, it could fertilize surface waters, prompting the growth of plankton, which can then absorb and store large amounts of atmospheric carbon.
• Long considered a potential marine carbon dioxide removal (CDR) method, artificial upwelling has more recently been coupled with seaweed farming to potentially soak up even more atmospheric CO2.
• But technological challenges have plagued open-water upwelling experiments, while environmentalists worry that large-scale use could ultimately prove ineffective and ecologically harmful.
• Experts state that though upwelling could prove a viable solution to improve fisheries and protect coral reefs from marine heat waves, more research is needed. Considering the rapid current pace of climate change, it’s debatable as to whether implementation at scale could come in time to stave off dangerous warming.

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• Mangroves in Belize protect coastlines, are nursery grounds for fish, and store vast amounts of carbon.
• In 2021, the government of Belize committed to restoring 4,000 hectares (nearly 10,000 acres) of mangroves, and protecting an additional 12,000 hectares (nearly 30,000 acres) within a decade, as part of its emissions reduction target under the Paris climate agreement.
• To support this restoration target, WWF Mesoamerica is developing a national mangrove restoration action plan.
• Restoration initiatives are already underway in areas like Gales Point, Placencia Caye and elsewhere.

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• Applications for deep-sea mining permits in Brazil have soared in recent years: of the 950 requests filed since 1967, nearly half were submitted between 2020 and 2024.
• Demand for key minerals used in the clean energy transition, as well as geopolitical uncertainties, are driving the race to the seabed.
• Loopholes in Brazilian legislation are allowing mining companies to work without environmental licensing, a situation made worse by the lack of specific rules for deep-sea mining.
• Researchers warn that the lack of environmental impact studies could have widespread impacts on marine ecosystems, especially on coral reef biodiversity.

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• Just 0.001% of the deep seafloor has ever been captured by photo or video images, a new study finds.
• That which has been captured is “biased” and potentially unrepresentative: 65% of observations have been in the waters of the United States, Japan or New Zealand, according to the study.
• Experts told Mongabay that policymakers at a wide range of international institutions should bear the study’s findings in mind, including those governing high seas fisheries, deep-sea mining, and the use of marine carbon dioxide sequestration systems.

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• Mongabay article
• research cited

Reducing travel speeds and using an intelligent queuing system at busy ports can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from oceangoing container vessels by 16-24%, according to researchers. Not only would those relatively simple interventions reduce emissions from a major, direct source of greenhouse gases, the technology to implement these measures already exists.

• Drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs) are floating rafts with underwater netting used by fishing vessels to attract tuna.
• A recent study estimated that between 2007 and 2021, 1.41 million dFADs drifted through 37% of the world’s oceans, stranding in 104 maritime jurisdictions and often polluting sensitive marine habitats.
• Strandings were most frequent in the Indian and Pacific oceans, with the Seychelles, Somalia and French Polynesia accounting for 43% of cases; ecosystem damage and cleanup costs fall on local communities.

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Seaspiracy

Marine bacteria control how much CO2 is stored in the oceans, by swimming after and degrading sinking particles that would otherwise remain stored in the ocean for millennia. Researchers have discovered that some bacteria can swim for several days without food while searching for these particles, losing body weight in the process. Understanding how marine bacteria do this may lead to a better prediction of marine carbon storage capacity and climate mitigation.

Bacteria are often overlooked in mathematical models that describe the transformation of various forms of carbon, such as CO2, in the ocean.

Ahead of oil-rich Suriname's election, the country's president tells AFP that a looming energy windfall will not spell a shift away from climate-friendly policies.

The country of 600,000 recently discovered a vast oil field off the Atlantic coast that within years should be capable of producing 220,000 barrels daily.

There will be "a huge amount of income for the country" once drilling gets underway in 2028, Chan Santokhi told AFP in an interview on the eve of the vote. (...)

Note: He got re-elected, which means more oil drilling, there too unfortunately.

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