During a recent monthlong expedition, a team of scientists conducted one of the most comprehensive surveys ever undertaken in the deep waters of Trinidad and Tobago, a dual-island nation located in the southern Caribbean Sea. Nearly 93% of the country’s waters are deeper than can be reached by recreational scuba diving, making it impossible to map them without specialized equipment. This expedition, which took place between June 29 and July 28 onboard the California-based Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel R/V Falkor (too), helped fill major gaps about Trinidad and Tobago’s deep-sea environment by deploying remotely operated vehicles and other technology in the nation’s deep waters. The scientific team documented dozens of active cold seeps and species believed to be new to science, and mapped about 13% of the country’s marine territory, according to a press release. The expedition also marked a milestone for Caribbean science. It was led by deep-sea ecologist Diva Amon, a Trinidad and Tobago native and co-founder of SpeSeas, an organization that works to advance marine science, education and conservation across the country and the wider Caribbean. Amon, who is also a scientific advisor at the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory at the University of California, Santa Barbara, was joined by fellow scientists from across the Caribbean as well as from the U.S., Canada and Spain. Deep-sea ecologist Diva Amon, right, a Trinidad and Tobago native and co-founder of SpeSeas, an organization that works to advance marine science, education and conservation across the country and the wider Caribbean, led…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The scars of bottom trawling are still visible on seamounts in Chile’s Juan Fernández Archipelago, even 25 years after the fishing practice took place in the area, according to a new study. In 2024, scientists from Chile and the U.S. used remotely operated vehicles aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel R/V Falkor to survey four seamounts, underwater mountains that rise up from the seafloor, off Chile’s coast. Three of the seamounts are located in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, a cluster of volcanic islands that has one of the highest known rates of marine endemism on the planet. An estimated 62% of the reef fish species of Juan Fernández and the neighboring Desventuradas Islands are found nowhere else in the world. Other unique endemic species include the Juan Fernández fur seal (Arctocephalus philippii) and the Juan Fernández rock lobster (Jasus frontalis).  The fourth study site was the Solito Seamount, located north of the Juan Fernández Archipelago and known to harbor similar marine communities. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, fishers conducted bottom trawling on the Juan Fernández seamounts, dragging weighted nets across the seafloor to catch orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) and alfonsino (Beryx decadactylus), long-living, deep-sea fish. After catches dwindled, these fisheries collapsed and the trawling stopped. Later, in 2015, Chile permanently banned bottom trawling on all of its seamounts. At Solito, by contrast, the study, published in July in Deep Sea Research, found no evidence that bottom trawling had ever occurred. Twenty-five years after bottom trawling had taken…This article was originally published on Mongabay

The International Seabed Authority (ISA), the U.N.-associated regulator of seabed mining activities in areas beyond national jurisdiction, has extended a controversial deep-sea mining exploration contract and once again failed to finalize the rules needed to regulate commercial seabed mining. The ISA’s 36-member council, which met from July 13 to 24, decided to extend the exploration contract for a subsidiary of Canadian deep-sea mining firm The Metals Company (TMC), allowing the company to retain exclusive exploration rights for blocks of the seabed in the Pacific Ocean. This decision stemmed from the ISA’s finding that TMC’s subsidiary, Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI), had met all the criteria for renewal. This move was met with criticism from both ISA council members and observers since another of TMC’s subsidiaries, TMC USA, is also pursuing deep-sea mining in the same areas outside of the ISA’s legal framework and, in early July, even launched a lawsuit against the ISA for its scrutiny of TMC’s activities. Louisa Casson of Greenpeace International, who was an observer at the council meeting, said in a statement that the ISA’s decision to extend TMC’s contract set a “dangerous precedent for both the deep sea and the rule of law” that also “calls into serious question the regulator’s ability to enforce basic compliance under its existing rules.” Organizations including Greenpeace International are critical of deep-sea mining, arguing that this activity would have devastating and likely irreversible effects on the marine environment.  Forty-five countries have also called for a moratorium or precautionary pause…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From pollution to overfishing to the escalating effects of climate change, human activities are placing mounting pressure on the world ocean, fueling what U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres describes as a “deepening crisis.” Those warnings are detailed in the third U.N. World Ocean Assessment, released June 8 and authored by approximately 600 experts from 86 countries. Covering the period between 2021 and 2025, the report echoes concerns raised in the U.N.’s earlier World Ocean Assessments, published in 2015 and 2021, which describe a global ocean under immense strain due to human-driven pressures. The authors point toward progress in ocean governance through a review of 57 global treaties related to ocean protection, including the recently ratified high seas treaty, known more formally as the marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) agreement. However, they caution that existing frameworks generally remain “fragmented” and cannot fully address the scale of the challenges facing the ocean. Even so, the authors argue that it is imperative to continue strengthening conservation efforts, regulations and international cooperation to mitigate the damaging impacts of human activities and preserve marine ecosystems. Some 52.1 million metric tons of plastic waste enters the ocean each year, impacting more than 4,000 marine species, including seabirds. Image by NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). “The imperative for a healthy and resilient ocean has never been more urgent,” Rafael González-Quirós, director of the Oceanographic Centre of Gijón, Spain, who played a key role in coordinating the report, said in…This article was originally published on Mongabay

This is part 2 of a two-part series examining the U.S.’s efforts to begin deep-sea mining in federal waters. Part 2 examines the regulations that would govern the industry. Part 1 explored the process behind proposed lease sales in U.S. federal waters and reactions to those plans. The deep-sea mining industry could launch in the near future in U.S. federal waters. Yet legal experts and former government officials warn that the regulations that would govern this industry are outdated and lack important oversight provisions. In April 2025, the Trump administration signaled its intention to enter the global race to mine the deep sea when it released an executive order calling for the development of the industry. Following the administration’s direction, in April 2026 the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced its plans to hold a series of seabed lease sales over the course of this year and into early next. The first one is slated for August in American Samoa, with subsequent lease sales planned for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Alaska. If these go forward, they could mark the first commercial lease processes for deep-sea mining anywhere in the world. Critics say deep-sea mining could cause large-scale and irreversible damage to the marine environment, and some governments in areas slated for leasing have even taken steps to ban deep-sea mining. In 2024, the governor of American Samoa enacted a moratorium on seabed mining from its territorial waters, which extend 3 nautical miles (5.6 kilometers)…This article was originally published on Mongabay

JEJU ISLAND, South Korea — In April 2025, I zipped myself up into a thick wetsuit and inched down a steep, rocky ledge toward the gray-blue water encircling Beomseom, a small island off the southern coast of Jeju Island in South Korea. Then I leapt into the chilly sea and wriggled into my scuba gear while floating on the surface. In the water with me was Sanghoon Yoon, an adviser for Paran Ocean Citizen Science Center, a South Korean civil society group that advocates for the protection of the ocean. That day, Yoon was my scuba dive buddy. Yoon and I sank beneath the dangling legs of snorkelers into a watery realm of rocks and kelp. Once in deeper water, I encountered gelatinous stalks of soft coral. The polyps appeared purple, pink, red, and even orange, depending on the light. The islet of Beomseom off South Korea’s Jeju Island hosts colorful gardens of soft coral. Image courtesy of Paran. Sanghoon Hoon, an adviser to the Paran Ocean Citizen Science Center, dives among  corals in the waters off Jeju, South Korea. Image courtesy of Paran. The soft corals I saw that day were healthy. But in 2024, soft corals around Beomseom Island and other parts of Jeju experienced what scientists are calling a “slumping” event — and what Yoon describes as “melting” — which saw soft corals losing their shape, drooping, and even dying. The event was widely reported in local media and attributed to marine heat as Jeju waters hovered…This article was originally published on Mongabay