standardization of environmental data and information - International ...

dwelling animals would be buried by the redistributed sediment. (3)
Animals in the immediate tracks of the mining vehicle would be obliterated.
In the ensuing discussion, various points were raised about the
effects of the sediment disturbances and waste discharges likely to result
from mining, and how they might be predicted.
-- Illustrating the difficulties that scientists face in investigating such
matters, differing views were expressed about the validity of an
experiment that sought to predict recolonisation rates (the speed
with which animal populations return to previous levels after a
cataclysmic event) by clearing an area of life and then counting the
fauna that showed up in a centrally placed tray after different
lengths of time.
-- In an exchange of views about the discharge of tailings (mineral
waste) from a nodule-processing vessel, participants generally
agreed that not enough was known to recommend whether the
discharge should take place at the surface or at mid-water levels. It
was suggested that, during their mining tests, contractors
experiment at both locations to learn more.
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Conflicting results were disclosed from experiments that sought to
determine whether repeated discharges of small amounts would
cause more harm than a single large discharge. The conclusion was
drawn that different groups of animals might be affected in different
ways.
Some participants thought that studies of natural resedimentation
events such as volcanic ash deposits might help predict the effects
of seabed mining, but Dr. Smith cautioned that effects could be
quite different in shallow and deep waters.
Asked whether deep-sea animals had any economic value, Dr.
Smith cited his own work in collecting specimens for a biotechnology
company that had been introducing their cold-adapted enzymes into coldwater
detergents and pharmaceuticals. He saw great potential in the huge
genetic diversity of life at the ocean bottom.
25 INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY