The Pacific nations of Palau, Fiji, and Samoa have formed a new alliance to call for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, citing the industry’s potential hazards to ocean ecology.
“We believe it is not worth the risk. We ask all of you to support that deep-sea mining increases the vulnerability of the seabed floor and marine life,” Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr. said at the U.N. Ocean Conference in Lisbon on Monday.
Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said that while Fiji has adopted a measure to ban deep-sea mining by 2030 and expanded its maritime protected areas by 8 percent, he believes that more could be done to prevent the industry if other countries follow suit….