New Whale Findings in Planned Deep Sea Mining Area

A research expedition in the North Atlantic has found several groups of sperm whales along with many other whale species in an area where Norway wants to conduct deep-sea mining.

Together with Greenpeace, a team of scientists sailed through the area of the North Atlantic Ocean that Norway recently opened for mining. On their first day at sea, they picked up sounds from what appeared to be four different groups of sperm whales.

– I had hoped to hear sperm whales on the hydrophone, but was surprised to hear so many of them so often in the mining area. We have surveyed large parts of the area where the Norwegian government wants to start mining and have detected sperm whales throughout the survey area. In some places we could clearly see that they were foraging. We’ve also spotted other species – white-beaked dolphins and killer whales – and minke whales and a fin whale,’ says Dr Kirsten Young, a research leader from Greenpeace Research Laboratories at the University of Exeter, one of the scientists on board the Greenpeace ship SY Witness.

The area in the Atlantic Ocean where Norway wants to open up for mining is in a sensitive area for several whale species, among others. Greenpeace interactive map of the area. These include the sperm whale, which is the largest of all toothed whales and dives to a depth of at least 2000 metres to hunt squid. The sperm whale has the largest brain in the animal kingdom and is considered among the most intelligent of all whales and dolphins, for example, research has shown that they co-operate when hunting. Their IUCN conservation status is also ‘vulnerable’.

On 26 June 2024, the Norwegian government sent out for public comments a consultation proposal for the first round of seabed mineral extraction licences, covering 386 blocks, corresponding to an area the size of the entire United Kingdom. The consultation period is 90 days with a deadline of 26 September 2024.

In a world that needs to rapidly transition from fossil fuels to renewables, there is a growing need for rare minerals such as cobalt and manganese. When we find them above ground, they are often in small quantities, but the hope now is for large deposits four thousand metres below the surface, in the deep oceans.

In the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Hawaii, another similar area under consideration for large-scale deep-sea mining, researchers found a large number of new species this spring. Among them, a small animal the researchers call ‘Barbie pig’ for lack of a name and also an animal that could be 15 000 years old.

Text: Lena Scherman
Photo: Christian Åslund/Greenpeace

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