The environmental impacts of extraction of energy, minerals and living resources from the oceans are a constant source of public and scientific concern. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico dominated the headlines for several months in 2010 and was a potent reminder of the risks associated with offshore oil drilling. This incident may have raised public awareness of the environmental costs of marine hydrocarbon extraction but oil pollution is only one of a broad category of industrial impacts on the oceans that are likely to grow in importance over the decades to come.
The need for economic growth to maintain the living standards of a rising human population is driving demand for the Earth’s non-renewable resources, particularly hydrocarbons and metals. Oil and gas extraction is being extended into ever more challenging oceanic environments and the deep-sea bed is increasingly being explored as a source of valuable minerals. In January 2011 the Papua New Guinea Government granted a licence for the commercial extraction of metal-rich sulphide deposits in the Bismark Sea, and if this proves a success it is likely to be followed by other mining operations in deep seabed environments. In fact, both China and Russia are both actively exploring mining areas of the deep ocean.The ocean also continues to be used as a repository for waste produced by land-based mines and marine aquaculture, while the development of renewable energy infrastructure such as offshore wind farms and tidal turbines is introducing a further category of large-scale anthropogenic impact into the marine environment.
For all categories of industrial use of the ocean it is essential to identify and measure potential impacts so that these can be minimized and mitigated as far as possible. To achieve this we need a solid base of fundamental research to understand the processes that result from anthropogenic disturbance, and how these activities may enhance or inhibit natural ecosystem processes. Our current research builds on our track record of achievement in fields such as the impacts of coastal aquaculture and the biology and geochemistry of the deep sea bed. This expertise is readily applicable to emerging issues such as deep-sea mining waste disposal, mineral extraction and renewable energy developments.
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