Through technological advances, the ocean deep is becoming more and more available to human use. However, scientists are now warning against the exploitation of it for various reasons. For example, every decade, we are able to fish an average of 62.5 meters deeper than the decade before because of advances. But fish that deep reproduce slower, so even taking a smaller amount of these fish than ones that live shallower in the ocean affects them greatly. Also, pollution that floats out to sea and sinks deeper is now proving to affect the fish that live there and are brought up for us to eat, as well as the fisher men. The most common use of the deep ocean is mining, but this is harmful for the earth as well, because sometimes the drilling stirs up the ocean floor and sends up a sediment plume which can harm the water for miles, and not simply at the site.
The obvious solution would be to set up rules limiting fishing and mining and other uses for the ocean deep, but there's a problem to this. Most deep parts of the ocean are in international territory, where no particular nation has jurisdiction. The scientists who wrote the report on the exploitation of the ocean deep say that the next step is to attach an economic value to the services the deep provides us (such as natural resources) and decide if the value outweighs the potential cost to the earth.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140730094308.htm
Really interesting post Ann Marie! I never thought to think if we do go and further explore the deep sea, this would open up more options for fishing and mining. I also can see the difficulty with placing regulations on an area that is suppose to belong to the entire world. I do wonder though if many people would buy the fish that live that deep to eat. Most fish that live that deep are unappealing and people aren't used to eating them. Very thought-provoking though!
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