Comment from Whitman, Wende
Wende WhitmanOpposeAcademic
Summary: The commenter, a science writer for R1 universities, opposes offshore mining due to its potential for habitat destruction, sediment plumes, and long-term damage to deep-sea ecosystems. They argue that mining threatens coastal resilience and biodiversity.
As a long time, Virginia resident and science writer for R1 universities I’m opposed too mining offshore. The disruption to natural habitats and coastal resilience projects that could benefit people worldwide would be at risk.Habitat destruction. Many organisms, including corals, sponges, worms, shellfish, and microbes, live in or on the seafloor. Mining or dredging can remove or bury those habitats.
* Sediment plumes. Fine particles stirred up by mining can drift for miles, potentially affecting fish, filter feeders, and even photosynthesis if they reduce light penetration.
* Food web impacts. Many commercially and ecologically important species depend on benthic (seafloor) ecosystems during some stage of their life cycle.
* Slow recovery. Some deep-sea habitats form over thousands to millions of years. If they’re disturbed, recovery may take decades—or much longer.
Ravaging natural habitats needs to be a thing of the past