海底開採是海洋面臨的最新威脅。

如果將海底礦工批准掠奪海底，那麼海洋生物可能是毀滅性的。

Seabed mining is a new threat facing the oceans. If given the go-ahead, seabed miners could devastate marine life as they dredge the seabed to extract metals and minerals. This is in addition to the pressures already facing the oceans from overfishing, the climate crisis and pollution.

海底開採是海洋面臨的新威脅。如果被批准，海底礦工可能會毀滅海洋生物，因為他們在海床上挖出了金屬和礦物質。這是由於過度捕撈，氣候危機和污染所面臨的壓力的補充。

So far, there is no commercial seabed mining anywhere in the world. But here in Aotearoa, one company, Trans-Tasman Resources, is applying to get started in the South Taranaki Bight, and other companies are desperate to start deep sea mining in the Pacific.

到目前為止，世界上任何地方都沒有商業海底採礦。但是，在Aotearoa，一家跨塔斯曼資源公司（Trans-Tasman Resources）正在申請進入南塔拉納基（Taranaki Bight），其他公司迫切希望在太平洋地區開始深海開採。

What is seabed mining?

什麼是海底開採？

Seabed mining involves dredging up the seafloor to extract metals and minerals. Then unwanted materials are dumped back into the sea, smothering the surrounding area with a sediment plume, like a dust cloud, which will travel for kilometres. Both the dredging and the dumping are likely to cause environmental damage.

海底採礦涉及挖掘海底以提取金屬和礦物質。然後，不需要的材料被傾倒回海中，用沉積物羽流（如灰塵雲）窒息了周圍的區域，該羽毛將行駛數公里。挖泥和傾倒都可能造成環境破壞。

Some of the deep sea areas that are being targeted for mining also support some of the most unique and least understood biodiversity on the planet.

一些針對採礦的深海地區還支持地球上一些最獨特，最不知情的生物多樣性。

Deep sea mining is seabed mining

深海開採是海床開採

The terms seabed mining and deep sea mining are two sides of the same coin. Both mean plundering the ocean floor to extract minerals and metals, leaving devastation in place of diversity. Typically, the term deep sea mining refers to mining polymetalic nodules from the seafloor of the deep sea. Seabed mining typically refers to shallower mining where the sandy seafloor is sucked to the surface in large quantities where minerals are extracted from it.

術語海床採礦和深海開採是同一枚硬幣的兩個方面。兩者都意味著掠奪海底以提取礦物質和金屬，而造成了破壞代替多樣性。通常，“深海開採”一詞是指深海海底的採礦多基結節。海床採礦通常是指較淺的採礦，那裡的沙質海底被吸入大量的地表，從中提取礦物質。

How does seabed mining work?

海床採礦如何工作？

Seabed mining in the South Taranaki Bight would involve a suction pump like a massive vacuum cleaner that sucks up sand from the seabed to a dredger ship above. The sand would be sorted while still at sea, with the minerals or metals extracted and exported offshore. Whatever is left would be dumped back into the water, smothering the surrounding area with the sediment plume.

南塔拉納基（Taranaki Bight）的海床採礦將涉及一個吸入泵，例如一個巨大的真空吸塵器，從海床上吸走到上方的挖泥船。沙子仍在海上時進行分類，礦物質或金屬提取並出口了海上。剩下的一切都會被傾倒回到水中，用沉積物羽流窒息周圍的區域。

What are the risks of seabed mining?

海床採礦的風險是什麼？

Seabed mining is a relatively new and experimental technique. Much of the science around its environmental impacts is incomplete.

海底開採是一種相對較新的實驗技術。圍繞環境影響的大部分科學是不完整的。

We know less about the deep sea than about the surface of the moon. In fact, it was only in July 2024 that “dark oxygen” was discovered. Strange potato-shaped metallic lumps – polymetallic nodules – are producing oxygen on the deep sea floor – and companies want to mine them.

我們對深海的了解少於月球表面。實際上，直到2024年7月，才發現了“深色氧”。奇怪的土豆形金屬塊 - 聚合金屬結節 - 在深海地板上生產氧氣 - 公司希望開採它們。

We don’t yet know the full significance of this discovery, but we do know now that these nodules have a role within the deep sea ecosystem. And it highlights how damaging it could be to destroy an ecosystem we barely understand, and yet depend on.

我們還不知道這一發現的全部意義，但是現在我們知道這些結節在深海生態系統中起作用。它突出了銷毀我們幾乎不了解的生態系統，但依賴的生態系統的破壞。

Read more: What the discovery of dark oxygen means for seabed mining

閱讀更多：深色氧的發現對海底採礦意味著什麼

Seabed mining would be devastating for the fragile ecosystems, wildlife and environment. Below are just some of the risks seabed mining would pose:

海底採礦將對脆弱的生態系統，野生動植物和環境造成破壞性。以下只是海床採礦的一些風險：

The scariest thing is we don’t yet know the full consequences that seabed mining would have. If approved, Trans-Tasman Resources would be the first large-scale seabed mining project in the world.

最可怕的是，我們還不知道海底採礦會帶來的全部後果。如果獲得批准，跨塔斯曼資源將是世界上第一個大型海床開採項目。

What is the long-term impact of seabed mining?

海床採礦的長期影響是什麼？

Apart from the direct impact of seabed mining, there could also be knock-on effects that can take longer to recognise.

除了海底採礦的直接影響外，還可能需要更長的粘結效應才能識別。

Look at this image here from the deep sea off the coast of South Carolina. It’s the chilling aftermath of the world’s first-ever deep sea mining site. What makes this really shocking is it was mined in 1970, and yet it looks as though it happened yesterday.

從南卡羅來納州海岸深海看這張圖像。這是世界上第一個深海開採地點的令人震驚的後果。真正令人震驚的是它是在1970年開采的，但看起來好像是昨天發生的。

Fifty years have passed since the seabed was disrupted by a deep sea mining test, and yet, there is no sign of recovery. What was once a vibrant marine ecosystem now resembles a barren wasteland, a testament to the destructive greed of industry. Seabed mining risks causing serious and irreversible damage to oceans.

自從海床被深海開採測試中斷以來，已經過去了五十年，但是沒有恢復的跡象。曾經是一個充滿活力的海洋生態系統現在類似於貧瘠的荒原，這證明了行業破壞性的貪婪。海底開采風險造成對海洋的嚴重和不可逆轉的損害。

Seabed mining is the latest form of colonialism

海床採礦是殖民主義的最新形式

Seabed mining is just the latest form of colonialism. Once again companies are lining up to engage in another destructive, extractive industry that will harm Indigenous Peoples. For many Indigenous groups, especially those in the Pacific, the sea has deep cultural significance and is important to their livelihoods and food security. They know that harming the ocean and the creatures that live in it also harms their communities. They know that people are not separate from the environment; instead, they are a part of it, and their well-being is linked to it.

海底開採只是殖民主義的最新形式。公司再次排隊從事另一個會損害土著人民的破壞性，提取行業。對於許多土著群體，尤其是太平洋地區的群體，海洋具有深厚的文化意義，對他們的生計和糧食安全很重要。他們知道，損害海洋和生活在其中的生物也會損害他們的社區。他們知道人們與環境並不分開。相反，他們是其中的一部分，他們的福祉與之相關。

What is the threat of seabed mining in Aotearoa?

Aotearoa海床採礦的威脅是什麼？

Seabed mining is an immediate threat in Aotearoa. Australian-owned Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) has fought for more than 10 years to start seabed mining off the coast of Patea in the South Taranaki Bight.

海底開採是Aotearoa的直接威脅。澳大利亞擁有的跨塔斯曼資源（TTR）已經戰鬥了10多年，以開始在南塔拉納基北部的帕特亞海岸開採海底開採。

Find out more: Seabed mining in Aotearoa

了解更多信息：Aotearoa的海底開採

Deep dive: Who are Trans-Tasman Resources?

深水潛水：誰是跨塔斯曼資源？

If this goes ahead, it would be the largest project of its kind anywhere: an underwater open-cast mine that would pull millions of tonnes of iron sand from a 6

如果繼續進行，它將是任何地方中最大的項目：一個水下開放式礦山，它將從6個中拉出數百萬噸的鐵砂