海底开采是海洋面临的最新威胁。

如果将海底矿工批准掠夺海底，那么海洋生物可能是毁灭性的。

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.

海底开采是海洋面临的新威胁。如果被批准，海底矿工可能会毁灭海洋生物，因为他们在海床上挖出了金属和矿物质。这是由于过度捕捞，气候危机和污染所面临的压力的补充。

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.

到目前为止，世界上任何地方都没有商业海底采矿。但是，在Aotearoa，一家跨塔斯曼资源公司（Trans-Tasman Resources）正在申请进入南塔拉纳基（Taranaki Bight），其他公司迫切希望在太平洋地区开始深海开采。

What is seabed mining?

什么是海底开采？

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.

海底采矿涉及挖掘海底以提取金属和矿物质。然后，不需要的材料被倾倒回海中，用沉积物羽流（如灰尘云）窒息了周围的区域，该羽毛将行驶数公里。挖泥和倾倒都可能造成环境破坏。

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.

一些针对采矿的深海地区还支持地球上一些最独特，最不知情的生物多样性。

Deep sea mining is seabed mining

深海开采是海床开采

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.

术语海床采矿和深海开采是同一枚硬币的两个方面。两者都意味着掠夺海底以提取矿物质和金属，而造成了破坏代替多样性。通常，“深海开采”一词是指深海海底的采矿多基结节。海床采矿通常是指较浅的采矿，那里的沙质海底被吸入大量的地表，从中提取矿物质。

How does seabed mining work?

海床采矿如何工作？

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.

南塔拉纳基（Taranaki Bight）的海床采矿将涉及一个吸入泵，例如一个巨大的真空吸尘器，从海床上吸走到上方的挖泥船。沙子仍在海上时进行分类，矿物质或金属提取并出口了海上。剩下的一切都会被倾倒回到水中，用沉积物羽流窒息周围的区域。

What are the risks of seabed mining?

海床采矿的风险是什么？

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

海底开采是一种相对较新的实验技术。围绕环境影响的大部分科学是不完整的。

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.

我们对深海的了解少于月球表面。实际上，直到2024年7月，才发现了“深色氧”。奇怪的土豆形金属块 - 聚合金属结节 - 在深海地板上生产氧气 - 公司希望开采它们。

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.

我们还不知道这一发现的全部意义，但是现在我们知道这些结节在深海生态系统中起作用。它突出了销毁我们几乎不了解的生态系统，但依赖的生态系统的破坏。

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

阅读更多：深色氧的发现对海底采矿意味着什么

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

海底采矿将对脆弱的生态系统，野生动植物和环境造成破坏性。以下只是海床采矿的一些风险：

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，我们还不知道海底采矿会带来的全部后果。如果获得批准，跨塔斯曼资源将是世界上第一个大型海床开采项目。

What is the long-term impact of seabed mining?

海床采矿的长期影响是什么？

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

除了海底采矿的直接影响外，还可能需要更长的粘结效应才能识别。

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.

从南卡罗来纳州海岸深海看这张图像。这是世界上第一个深海开采地点的令人震惊的后果。真正令人震惊的是它是在1970年开采的，但看起来好像是昨天发生的。

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.

自从海床被深海开采测试中断以来，已经过去了五十年，但是没有恢复的迹象。曾经是一个充满活力的海洋生态系统现在类似于贫瘠的荒原，这证明了行业破坏性的贪婪。海底开采风险造成对海洋的严重和不可逆转的损害。

Seabed mining is the latest form of colonialism

海床采矿是殖民主义的最新形式

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.

海底开采只是殖民主义的最新形式。公司再次排队从事另一个会损害土著人民的破坏性，提取行业。对于许多土著群体，尤其是太平洋地区的群体，海洋具有深厚的文化意义，对他们的生计和粮食安全很重要。他们知道，损害海洋和生活在其中的生物也会损害他们的社区。他们知道人们与环境并不分开。相反，他们是其中的一部分，他们的福祉与之相关。

What is the threat of seabed mining in Aotearoa?

Aotearoa海床采矿的威胁是什么？

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.

海底开采是Aotearoa的直接威胁。澳大利亚拥有的跨塔斯曼资源（TTR）已经战斗了10多年，以开始在南塔拉纳基北部的帕特亚海岸开采海底开采。

Find out more: Seabed mining in Aotearoa

了解更多信息：Aotearoa的海底开采

Deep dive: Who are Trans-Tasman Resources?

深水潜水：谁是跨塔斯曼资源？

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

如果继续进行，它将是任何地方中最大的项目：一个水下开放式矿山，它将从6个中拉出数百万吨的铁砂