Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

continental shelf. He suggested that the overall cumulative effect of
mining i.e. the settlement of the plume generated from the surface, the
discard that goes back to the sea floor, and the action of the mining tool
need to be looked at in terms of seas adjacent to mining areas.
In terms of the future, Dr. Corbett made the observation that
significant changes would occur as a result of the new autonomous
underwater vehicle that is under construction by De Beers for deployment
later in 2000. He said that this is because with one an autonomous
underwater vehicle the seafloor can be traversed in transects. He said that
equipped with high quality video acquisition systems, these autonomous
vehicles could help to produce video maps of the sea floor. He was of the
opinion that this is going to be a fundamental leap forward for studies of
benthic communities and other communities in the Benguela system.
To conclude his presentation, Dr. Corbett said that the approach to
environmental management by De Beers is long-term and has to be looked
at over a period of time. He said that the first step is setting up the control
sites and a transect area. He said that the second step is continuous
monitoring of the sites. He pointed out that although the Jago is presently
being used for this purpose, the introduction of the autonomous
underwater vehicle promises a great deal of excitement. He said that the
AUV could be deployed at anytime and at a fraction of the cost of
submersible deployment. He stated that opportunities are forthcoming
with this type of work by De Beers Marine, and that it would promote
valuable research by scientists. He spoke of the benefits to be reaped
through this work by other members of the Namibian and South African
research communities, in particular students, and mentioned the use of
data obtained from this work by students working on their MScs and
honours projects at the University of Namibia. Dr. Corbett said that De
Beers Marine is linked to the Benguela ecology programme and is a major
sponsor of the Two Oceans Aquarium project which is one is the foremost
aquariums in the world and linked to the World Wildlife Fund. (WWF).
Finally, Dr. Corbett said that De Beers Marine believed that the
scientific studies that the organization has been involved in have increased
its knowledge of the impact of deep-sea diamond mining on the
environment. He said that the studies provide new insights into aspects of
the Benguela ecosystem that are beneficial to many people. He ended his
presentation saying that underlying philosophy of De Beers Marine is the
belief that if you take a responsible approach to offshore mining it not only
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