Review of Existing Information on Fishes in the Deep Ocean Mining Environmental Study (DOMES) Area of the Tropical Pacific,

摘要

The Deep Ocean Mining Environmental Study (DOMES) development plan gives an idea of the ways in which the so-called mining operations will affect the marine environment. The bottom will be scraped and a mixture of nodules,sediment and water taken up the water column to the sea surface,either hydraulically or mechanically. If a hydraulic system is used the bottom will be disturbed and a turbidity plume created just above it. In addition bottom water will be discharged at the sea surface,creating another turbidity plume as it sinks. If a mechanical (continuous line bucket) system is used the bottom will be disturbed and there will be a continuous rain of fine particles down most of the water column,especially the lower part. These changes could locally affect fish,indirectly by altering the kind or amount of food available to them,or directly by altering their physical environment. The alteration to the food supply might be significant or insignificant,adverse or favorable. The alteration to the physical environment would probably be significant and adverse.