Proponents say they want to dredge the seafloor for metals needed for clean technology. Indigenous Pacific Islanders call it a threat to life, culture, and the ocean itself.

The world’s oceans are increasingly becoming an important new frontier in the geopolitical and economic race for critical minerals, with countries fast-tracking plans for deep-sea mining. Meanwhile, ...

As delegates from member states of the International Seabed Authority entered the third and final week of high-stakes negotiations on deep-sea mining, they condemned a move made earlier this year by ...

The deep-sea Venus flower basket sponge can filter feed using only the faint ambient currents of the ocean depths, no pumping required, new research reveals. This discovery of natural 'zero energy' ...

President Donald Trump is trying to fast track a brand new, highly controversial industry – mining critical minerals in the deep sea. Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing the secretaries ...

Signage outside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, US, on Monday, March 3, 2025. The Trump administration fired hundreds of employees ...

The deep sea, the planet’s most expansive and least understood ecosystem, remains largely unexplored. Yet while the deep sea may seem a dark and distant space, events underwater directly impact our ...

An underwater gold rush may be on the horizon — or rather, a rush to mine the seafloor for manganese, nickel, cobalt and other minerals used in electric vehicles, solar panels and more. Meanwhile, ...

Invoking national security to justify private sector economic development is a tired cliché. And yet, in a troubling twist, a Canadian company is invoking U.S. national security to obtain an exclusive ...