Scientists Call for Urgent Defense of Deep Ocean

Experts around the globe are warning that human-related activity - like fishing, oil and gas development, industrial-scale mining, waste disposal and land-based pollution - could be causing lasting damage to the deep ocean.

More than half of the planet is made up of the deep ocean, which lies below 200 meters. But underneath the ocean depths lie energy resources, precious metals and minerals, and because of new technology humans can better access these materials.

This is not necessarily an entirely positive advancement, given that it allows humans to more easily taint the ocean deep.

University of Southampton oceanographer Dr. Maria Baker thinks the only solution is to strike a balance between the two.

"Currently, governance of our deep-ocean is fragmented," she said in a news release. "We need to achieve integrated thinking and communication across all deep-sea stakeholders and across all jurisdictions - this is key to delivering the best possible solutions for future deep-ocean resource use and long-term environmental protection."

However, the deep ocean extends across national and international authorities and is managed separately. This means that an area protected against trawler fishing, for example, could still be considered for mining operations and vice versa.

One fifth of the continental slope has been hunted at least once and often multiple times by the fishing industry, leading to damage such as habitat loss. According to the paper, the underwater environment has also served as an international dumping ground for radioactive waste, sewage and toxic chemicals.

The study's recommendations were presented at an inaugural meeting of the Deep-ocean Stewardship Initiative. Baker and experts noted that someone has to start standing up for the deep ocean before any more irreversible harm comes to it.

"We require transparency and flexibility within all areas of governance to make this work," Baker said. "Management should be a dynamic process whereby strategies will evolve as we learn more about our deep-ocean ecosystems and their response and resilience to exploitation. We should not hesitate -- we need to move forward at once. Future generations depend upon our actions."

The findings were published in the journal Science on May 16.