No Deep-Sea Mining Near the Mariana Trench
Our oceans face a massive threat right now, and we need your help to stop it.
President Trump issued an executive order in early 2025 that fast-tracks approvals for deep-sea mining. Now the U.S. government has started the process to consider a deep-sea mining lease sale in federal waters near the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean.
Mining the ocean floor can cause irreparable damage to delicate and important ecosystems that are vital to communities around the world. Thousands of new species are discovered in our deep seas every year.
We cannot put our oceans at risk due to dangerous deep-sea mining that doesn’t have any safeguards in place. We urgently need your voice to tell the Trump administration to reject this lease sale that could cause catastrophic harm to our oceans.
Join Oceana and stand up to protect our oceans today!
Petition Letter
Dear Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,
Please accept this letter as a statement of my firm opposition to the proposed deep-sea mining initiative off the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Launching this form of resource extraction poses a significant threat to our shared marine environment and undermines the ocean’s vital role in sustaining planetary health.
For the life that grows on and around areas targeted for deep-sea mining, the resulting destruction will be comprehensive and irreversible. The deep sea is Earth's least understood ecosystem — with new species discovered every year — and it is also among its most fragile. For example, a deep-sea mining test site on the Blake Plateau off the coast of North Carolina shows no recovery, more than 50 years later. NOAA scientists found mining changes the structure and topography of these ecosystems from seafloor to surface, which means that coastal industries like fisheries and tourism could also suffer.
Given the already alarming risks posed by deep-sea mining, this RFI introduces an additional concern: the extraction of deposits from ferromanganese crust. This process would involve scraping the tops of seamounts – underwater mountains that NOAA identifies as “critical foundation habitats” supporting everything from deep-sea corals and sponges to commercially valuable fish and migratory species. Even more troubling, the proposed mining area sits immediately adjacent to, and upstream of, the Mariana Trench National Monument, a protected region that safeguards unique reef ecosystems and marine life in some of the planet’s deepest waters.
These deep-sea ecosystems support an abundant food web, providing critical habitat for marine mammals and nursery grounds for commercially important fish species. The Global Tuna Alliance and Sustainable Seafood Coalition are already expressing concerns about impacts on the $5.5 billion Pacific tuna industry. In addition to the irreparable harm to the ocean environment, deep-sea mining requires processing that occurs on land, with all the environmental impacts associated with industrial metal refining.
Leaders around the world urge caution: 37 countries, more than 65 major corporations, 37 financial institutions, and more than 940 marine experts call for a moratorium on seabed mining, citing its environmental dangers and shaky economics. Critically, those most affected by seabed mining oppose it. Nearly all U.S. Pacific states and territories—including California, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, American Samoa, and Guam—have restricted or banned deep-sea mining.
The U.S. must not lead a "race to the bottom." Governments and companies using such metals should prioritize reducing demand for virgin supply—with enhanced recycling, for example— rather than expanding supply via deep-sea mining.
For these reasons, I urge BOEM to abandon any deep-sea mineral leasing plans in the ocean off the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.