Deep Sea Conservation Coalition

Seamounts are biodiversity hotspots vital to ocean health, but bottom trawling is destroying them. Elin Angharad Thomas explores in @theconversation.com why ending this destructive practice in international waters may finally be within reach.

It’s time to protect seamounts. Covering nearly 21% of the global seabed, these ocean lifelines are threatened by destructive bottom trawling. 400+ scientists have signed a proclamation urging the UN to protect them. Governments must listen to the science and act. https://shorturl.at/TRfCH

Machine learning detects seamounts across the 2025 GEBCO grid at unprecedented scale, revealing previously undetected features widespread across ocean basins. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... cc @seabed2030.bsky.social 🌊 ⚒️

Almost 400 scientists are calling for seamount protection. Governments must turn evidence into action through the UN Sustainable Fisheries Resolution and end bottom trawling on seamounts by 2027. Add your voice to growing calls to protect our ocean’s lifelines: defendthedeep.org

Nearly 400 scientists call for stronger seamount protection from destructive bottom trawling. Ahead of UNGA Sustainable Fisheries Resolution negotiations, the DSCC urges governments to end bottom trawling on high-seas seamounts by end of 2027. Scientist eligible to sign?➡️ https://bit.ly/4i6wW6X

The October Deep Sea Digest is here! From urgent action against unlawful deep-sea mining to a 2027 deadline to protect seamounts, this issue covers key developments, new science and what's next for the deep sea. 📩 Subscribe: http://eepurl.com/jmDe-k

Protect seamounts. Protect our ocean. The UN Sustainable Fisheries Resolution must commit to phasing out bottom trawling on high-seas seamounts by 2027. Urge governments to act: defendthedeep.org

🌊 Europe does not need #DeepSeaMining for clean transport. New research shows that by 2040, battery recycling alone could cut Europe's need for newly mined nickel by up to 50% and cobalt by up to 70%. With 40 other NGOs, we call on the EU to put resource reduction at the heart of its policies.

Giant eyes can be a survival essential in the deep sea. The cock-eyed squid has one large eye to spot prey swimming above, while the barreleye fish peers up through its own transparent head to catch the faint silhouettes of its next meal. #DeepSeaWonders

Episode 2 of Think Deep! Season 2 has arrived! In this episode, we’re diving deep into the Southwest Pacific, from the Cook Islands to Fiji, with special guests Alanna Matamaru Smith and Rufino Varea. Listen on: Youtube: buff.ly/3kO2XeW Spotify: buff.ly/J4D6RcZ Apple Podcasts: buff.ly/MsH4ITr

Princess Esmeralda of Belgium just delivered a strong opening speech at #OceanWeek in front of the European Parliament. She called on us to choose protection before destruction when it comes to #DeepSeaMining "Once we destroy ecosystems in the deep ocean we won't get it back." #DefendTheDeep

Today at 2 p.m., MBARI welcomes Lisa Levin of @scrippsocean.bsky.social for the David Packard Distinguished Lecture. She’ll explore how our understanding of deep-sea biodiversity has evolved and how science can help shape future decisions about the deep sea. Join us: www.mbari.org/event/perspe...

We’re calling on EU decision-makers this #EUOceanWeek to defend the deep and support a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining and an end to bottom trawling on high-seas seamounts by 2027. From the surface to the seafloor, we must protect our ocean.

In the first ROV survey of Argentina's Mar del Plata Submarine Canyon, scientists found litter, mostly plastic and fishing gear, down to 3,814 meters. Canyons act as funnels, channeling our waste into the deep, where it barely degrades and can entangle marine life. #sciencespotlight #deepseascience

The new Ocean Protection Gap Report finds ~10% of the ocean is designated protected/conserved, but just 3.5% is effectively protected 🌊 Protecting seamounts could safeguard 21% of the global seabed. If we’re serious about 30×30, the UN Bottom Fisheries Review must turn commitments into action.

This week, the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) gathers for its Annual Meeting, a key moment to reflect on progress and chart what's next. 📋 We have prepared a checklist for NAFO's success. How many boxes will NAFO check? ✅

Giant tube worms are fast-growing, deep-sea dwellers with gills that look like red feathers. 🪶 They live in colonies around hydrothermal vents and get their nutrition from chemosynthetic bacteria that live inside them. #DeepSeaWonders

We're hiring! 📢 We're looking for a detail-oriented finance professional to join a global team protecting deep-sea ecosystems worldwide. 📍 Netherlands-based or CET ±2 hours 📅 Apply by Oct 5 Details 👉 https://deep-sea-conservation.org/hiring-finance-support-officer-consultant-at-dscc/ #NGOjobs

The deep sea is one of Earth’s greatest natural climate systems. It absorbs heat, stores carbon, and helps reduce the impacts of a warming world. 🛡️ The deep sea has helped protect life on Earth. Now it is our turn to protect the deep: deep-sea-conservation.org/solutions/ta...

Cold seeps, where methane escapes from beneath the seafloor, may play an overlooked role in the ocean's carbon cycle. These specialised deep-sea ecosystems help keep methane in check, but bottom trawling & warming could turn that natural brake into a new source of emissions. #sciencespotlight

📬 It’s here! The latest 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗦𝗲𝗮 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 just landed. From the surface to the seafloor, this issue highlights major outcomes, key moments, and growing momentum to protect the deep sea. Read it here: https://bit.ly/4qEoH69

What if one decision could protect 21% of the ocean floor? Seamounts rich ecosystems can be destroyed in a single pass of a bottom trawler. This year, governments will decide seamounts' fate at the UN Bottom Fisheries Review. Ask them to make the right call: https://bit.ly/4qr2msL

Deep-sea mining risks causing irreversible harm to deep-sea ecosystems and biodiversity, while threatening fisheries, the ocean’s vital carbon processes, and the right to a healthy and sustainable environment. Will you help us #DefendTheDeep? All it takes is one click: https://bit.ly/4eWTzLl

Three weeks of negotiations at the International Seabed Authority have ended without delivering the action needed to protect the deep ocean, reinforcing why a moratorium on deep-sea mining is vital. Read our reaction in full ⬇️ deep-sea-conservation.org/governments-... #DeepSeaMining #DefendTheDeep

🇨🇬 The Republic of the Congo has joined the call for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, another vital step for the growing global movement calling for precaution, sound science, international law and protection of the common heritage of humankind. Momentum is building 👏 #DefendTheDeep

The ocean can't speak at the negotiating table. So we did. From Kingston's shores, as the ISA Assembly meets, we spelled out the message: → Protect the deep sea. → Defend our common heritage. → Support a deep-sea mining moratorium now. Governments, the world is watching. #DefendTheDeep

Two-thirds of the world’s hydrothermal vent molluscs are now threatened with extinction, a new IUCN Red List assessment reveals, driven by the threat of deep-sea mining. #sciencespotlight #deepseascience

The deep ocean makes up 90% of the Earth’s marine environment & is its largest biome, but remains mostly unexplored. More scientific discoveries are revealing how important the deep ocean is to our planet. DYK the deep sea plays a central role in regulating Earth’s temperature & currents? #ISA31

Once labelled the world’s ugliest animal, blobfish look like normal fish in their natural deep-sea habitat. Soft bones, loose skin and a thick, jelly-like layer of flesh help blobfish survive in the dark, cold depths of the ocean. #DeepSeaWonders

Scientists at the UN Bottom Fisheries Workshop highlighted the urgent need to end bottom trawling on seamounts and underlined that current measures have failed to prevent ongoing damage to vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems.