Regional Director for Sea Affairs highlights importance of studies to know the impact of deep-sea mining
The Regional Director for Sea Affairs highlighted in Horta the importance of scientific knowledge on the deep sea produced by regional research teams. According to him, it "supports the political decision-making processes and the definition of policies promoting the sustainability of human activities as well as the processes to mitigate the effects of climate change."
Filipe Porteiro spoke on the sidelines of a visit to the Deep-Sea Lab of the Institute of the Sea (IMAR), where experimental trials are underway with deep-sea corals under the ATLAS project; the Regional Directorate for Sea Affairs is a partner of this institution.
The Regional Director emphasised the relevance of this laboratory in "handling and conducting experiments with very sensitive deep-sea animals, not only with corals and cold-water sponges" but also with organisms living in hydrothermal vents.
Filipe Porteiro stressed that cold-water corals "are organisms that structure vulnerable marine habitats and are used as models in various lines of research," namely on the impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities. Moreover, there are studies on the resilience of these organisms to certain phenomena, such as acidification of oceans (pH reduction due to increased carbon dioxide) and deep-sea mining.
"We believe that the results of these experiments in controlled environments are crucial to better address the political decision regarding the human activities that will be carried out in the future," said Felipe Porteiro.
Funded by the European Horizon 2020 programme, the ATLAS project also aims to promote the potential for the sustainable development of the blue economy by mapping ecosystem services and reconciling human activities in the deep sea.
This research is also in line with the European project designated as MERCES, which aims to develop methodologies for the recovery of marine ecosystems affected by human activities.