Adviser sets out to dispel ‘myths’ about deep sea mining

A Cook Islands deep sea mining adviser says explosions, dynamite and digging are common misconceptions associated with the industry.

Bishop Tutai Pere chairs the Island’s Seabed Minerals Advisory Committee and says the term harvest is more appropriate than mining.

“When people hear mining, they think about drilling into the sea bed and things that might harm the environment … everyone automatically jumps to explosions and dynamite and digging … but this is just sitting on the surface, you can just about vacuum clean and just pick them up.”

His comments follow the recent Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting which saw some leaders agreeing to a greater regional dialogue and co-operation on deep sea mining.

However, many Pacific countries including New Zealand are opposed to it and are calling for a moratorium on deep sea mining.

Pere, who spoke with Levi Matautia-Morgan on 531pi's Pacific Mornings, says there’s hope that deep sea mining can become another form of economic resource for the island.

This follows the damage done to the Island’s economy as tourism, which is their biggest industry, was badly hit during Covid-19.

“We need some form of other economic resource, if it’s going to be a mineral or something else in order to survive so that we don’t go through the same trauma that we suffered through Covid-19,” he says.

Despite the economic interest in deep sea mining, Pere says they’re going to make sure they carry it out safely through thorough scientific research.

He says worldwide damage to our oceans has been caused by greed.

“The key factor here is being a good custodian, good stewardship and comply by the rules [of the sea]. But unfortunately, covetousness and greed has overridden that”.

Pere says the plan is to carry out five years of scientific research and exploration before any mining begins.

“This sea and ocean of ours is very rare and it hasn’t been explored yet… We want to be the first to bring out this information and data for the rest of the world to know”.

Watch the full interview below: