Photo: NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2026 Cook Islands ROV Exploration
Photo: NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2026 Cook Islands ROV Exploration
Oppose Deep-Sea Mining and the Use of Federal Science to Advance Mineral Extraction Across the Pacific
Our deep ocean is part of our shared heritage, deeply connected to Pacific peoples, cultures, ecosystems, and future generations. It is not for sale.
The push to launch commercial deep-sea mining is accelerating across the Pacific. In April 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies to expedite seabed mineral exploration and mining in both U.S. and international waters. Since then, the federal government has advanced proposed deep-sea mining lease sales off American Samoa and the Mariana Islands, scheduled for late 2026, despite widespread public opposition. Community and conservation groups have filed lawsuits in American Samoa and the Mariana Islands challenging both proposals and raising concerns about impacts to protected wildlife and culturally significant waters.
At the same time, the U.S. government is reviewing an application from The Metals Company to explore for and commercially mine polymetallic nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, an area of international seabed between Hawaiʻi and Mexico. If approved, it could open a new pathway for U.S.-authorized commercial mining in international waters outside the existing International Seabed Authority process.
Why It Matters
Deep-sea mining involves industrial-scale seafloor disturbance that would destroy critical habitats formed by polymetallic nodules and disrupt ecological communities that may never recover. While more research is needed, there is scientific consensus that sediment plumes from deep-sea mining can spread far into the water column – and cause irreversible harm to marine life and fisheries, disrupting the entire ocean food web.
Scientists and Pacific communities have raised serious concerns about irreversible biodiversity loss and impacts to ocean ecosystems, fisheries, cultural practices, and communities that depend on a healthy ocean.
TAKE ACTION
Join Pacific communities and partners calling for a halt to deep-sea mining and protection of our shared ocean heritage. Sign the petition to say NO to deep-sea mining.
Take Action Now: Submit Public Comments by October 19th
The U.S. government is weighing a first-of-its-kind application from The Metals Company to commercially mine the deep seabed in international waters in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), located between Hawai‘i and Mexico. If approved, it would be the first time commercial deep-sea mining is allowed in international waters, a place that belongs to all of us.
What’s at risk
The deep ocean hosts our most ancient ecosystems, undisturbed since the dawn of time, and they are thriving with life found nowhere else on our planet. Deep-sea mining risks unavoidable and irreversible harm to ocean life and habitats.
The plans in this application would mean sending tank-sized excavators four kilometers below to vacuum up one of our planet’s last remaining untouched and largely unexplored ecosystems.
Why it matters
Pacific Islanders, Native Hawaiians, cultural practitioners, scientists and local communities have long opposed deep sea mining. These proposed mining areas are not in the middle of nowhere — they hold deep cultural, religious, and emotional ties for Indigenous communities that have been historically excluded from decision-making processes.
HOW TO TAKE ACTION:
✔️ October 13: Speak at NOAA’s virtual public hearing, 3–5 PM EDT. Register by October 9 and check the box to speak. Each speaker gets three minutes.
✔️ By October 19: Submit a written comment at regulations.gov (docket NOAA-NOS-2026-1751).
✔️ Sign and share this petition