India's expanding deep-sea exploration under the Deep Ocean Mission has revived debate over extracting seabed minerals while protecting fragile, poorly understood ocean ecosystems.

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• Deep-sea mining extracts polymetallic nodules, polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich crusts from ocean floors typically 3,000 to 6,000 metres deep.
• India holds three International Seabed Authority exploration contracts covering roughly 95,000 square kilometres across the Central Indian Ocean Basin, Central Indian Ridge and Carlsberg Ridge.
• Surveys under these contracts have identified an estimated 366 million tonnes of polymetallic nodules containing nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese.
• Under the Deep Ocean Mission, India is developing the MATSYA-6000 human scientific submersible along with underwater robotics for deep-sea exploration.
• The National Institute of Ocean Technology has tested a crawler-based seabed mining machine at depths of roughly 5,270 metres.
• Baseline research across 19 seamounts has catalogued about 1,300 deep-sea organisms, including 23 species newly discovered to science.
• UNCLOS Part XI declares the international seabed and its minerals the Common Heritage of Mankind, administered by the International Seabed Authority.
• The ISA's comprehensive exploitation code, covering commercial mining rules and environmental standards, remains unfinalised even as exploration accelerates.
• Critics warn that mining machinery generates sediment plumes travelling hundreds of kilometres, disrupting filter feeders and mid-water food webs.
• Deep-sea ecosystems recover extremely slowly, so scientists say damage from seabed scraping could prove effectively irreversible once mining begins.
• Experts suggest India keep its deep-sea programme at the scientific-exploration stage and expand critical-mineral recycling and substitution before committing to extraction.
• Advocates also call for designating no-mining marine protected zones over sensitive seamounts and hydrothermal vents within India's exploration blocks.

Tags: DeepSeaMining, DeepOceanMission, InternationalSeabedAuthority