National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Rule Changes

Processing first deep-sea mining applications under domestic law

A five-year research expedition has cataloged 788 species living 4,000 meters beneath the Pacific Ocean—90% of them previously unknown to science—just as the race to mine the same seabed accelerates. The study, published in February 2026, documents a 37% decline in animal abundance wherever mining equipment touched the seafloor, offering the first systematic look at what commercial extraction would destroy.

Updated Feb 7