How to Make Your Halloween More Eco-Friendly

Cue the music, “This is Halloween, this is Halloween.” That’s right, when Tim Burton’s famed The Nightmare Before Christmas comes on, you know America’s favorite candy holiday—Halloween—is here. 

What’s the spookiest part of Halloween? For some, it’s the chilling movies, while for others, it’s the ghostly costumes. However, for our ocean and the planet, the real fright comes from plastic waste. Plastic candy wrappers, plastic decorations and other plastic waste have serious impacts on our ocean and marine life.

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This year, more than 70% of Americans plan to celebrate Halloween. Consumers are anticipated to spend $3.5 billion on candy, with gummy treats topping the list. While we all love to take part in the fun of Halloween, here are some ideas for how to celebrate the holiday more sustainably.

Halloween treats

• Non-plastic treats: Instead of candies wrapped in plastic, look for candies wrapped in foil, like chocolate coins, or in cardboard boxes. It’s a sweet way to indulge while being a little kinder to the planet. 
• Homemade treats: If you’re throwing a Halloween party or want to share with your neighbors, you can whip up delicious homemade goodies like cookies, brownies or even small batch candies. Skip the plastic wrap and pop them in fun reusable containers or cute paper bags, and you’re all set for a spook-tacular celebration.
• Bags: When you head out to trick-or-treat, make sure to bring reusable bags instead of single-use bags. You could even make or decorate cloth bags or pillowcases as a fun, Halloween art project.

Decorations and party planning

• Eco-friendly materials: Turn your porch into a Halloween masterpiece. Whether you’re aiming for spooky haunted house vibes or a cozy autumnal look, there are endless possibilities. Use natural decorations like pumpkins, corn stalks and dried leaves, and make reusable decorations using fabric or cardboard, or get crafty with upcycled items you already have at home. Skip decorations like fake cobwebs, which are actually made from plastic and can leave little bits of microplastics in the environment once the spooky season ends. 
• Party supplies: Host(ess) with the most(ess)! If you’re hosting a Halloween gathering, use reusable plates, cups and utensils instead of single-use items. Cloth napkins can bring a festive flair!

The afterparty

• Compost, reuse, recycle: Skip the trash! Make the most of what you have by reusing or disposing of items responsibly. Consider composting organic waste, like pumpkins or left over party snacks, and recycling other materials. 
• Cleaning up the next day. Keep the festive spirit alive by organizing a spooky scavenger hunt or a neighborhood haunted trail cleanup, turning trick-or-treating routes into a litter-free zone. It’s a great way to have fun and do something meaningful as a community, Log the treasure you find on our Clean Swell^®app. 
• Proper disposal: The scariest part of all those plastic-wrapped treats you either receive or clean up the next day? They’re not recyclable, so make sure they end up in the trash.
• Add your voice in calling for fewer single-use plastics: Disappointed that there’s still so much avoidable plastic around Halloween? We are too. Join Ocean Conservancy in calling on members of Congress to tackle plastic pollution and the climate crisis before it’s too late! Our ocean is counting on us to take a stand, and together—we can make a difference.

Once your Halloween celebrations are set, take less than two minutes to join Ocean Conservancy’s call for an end to ocean plastic pollution.

In the true spirit of the holiday, let your inner child and imagination run wild. There are tons of fun and eco-friendly ways to celebrate Halloween. Try these cool tips—who knows, they just might become your new favorite traditions for years to come.

The post How to Make Your Halloween More Eco-Friendly appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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The Highs and Lows of Black Cod

This blog was written by Michele Conrad, advisor to Ocean Conservancy on achieving priority fish conservation and ecosystem goals on the West Coast. As a former state ocean policy manager, Michele represented the State of Washington on the Pacific Fishery Management Council for 15 years before starting her own consultancy. She is passionate about helping fisheries manage their way through climate change and furthering ocean conservation efforts. Protecting the ocean and its fish and wildlife for more than 50 years, Ocean Conservancy is committed to sustainable fisheries and sustainable fishing,

National Seafood Month is a great time to think about how different kinds of fish are being affected by climate change and what that could mean for the future of fisheries and the communities that depend on them. Many fish populations have been negatively impacted by a changing climate and major episodic events like marine heatwaves, such as the disappearance of the Bering Sea snow crab in 2021. But what about the fish stocks that have increased in abundance as a result of changing ocean conditions? One fish that seems to be in this category is sablefish, which is commonly called black cod (although it is not in the cod family).

Black cod can live to be more than 90 years old. They live in the depths of the Pacific Ocean from 300 to 2,700 meters (or 980 to 8,860 feet), and females, which are larger than males, can grow more than three feet long. As tasty, white, moist and flaky fish, black cod are found on menus around the world and are especially popular in Japan. 

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Using different gear types for catching black cod—including pots, bottom longline and trawl throughout Alaska and along the Pacific Coast to southern California—this fishery has  remained a mainstay of sustainably managed commercial fisheries for multiple generations. Since many other fisheries in the region are seasonal—such as salmon, Dungeness crab and albacore tuna—coastal fishing communities along the west coast, including Tribal and Indigenous communities, rely on black cod to keep their fishing, fish buying and processing crews employed year-round.

The black cod population that spans the coasts of the United States and Canada is currently healthy, but as the climate and ocean conditions change, their long-term future is uncertain. Even if climate change could have some positive impacts on the stock, that doesn’t necessarily mean smooth sailing for the fishery. Fisheries are complex systems that connect ecosystems and communities and markets, which means sometimes there are surprising effects from changes, even from an increase in fish.

In 2009, scientists discovered a link between black cod recruitment (which refers to the new young fish that enter the population each year) and sea level. A climate-driven process known as “upwelling” occurs when winds blow surface waters away from an area, and deep ocean waters rich in nutrients rise (or well up) to the surface. The deeper waters are usually colder and generally produce better habitat and feeding conditions for young black cod. Over many decades, the Pacific Coast black cod population has been sustained by periodic, high-recruitment events which tend to coincide with periods of strong upwelling that provide nutrient-dense waters to feed the young fish. 

Black cod reach maturity at five to seven years, and the fish caught in commercial fisheries are typically 20 to 40 years old. In other words, the number of black cod available to catch in a given year is reflective, in part, of the environmental conditions that were present 15 to 35 years ago and since that time. So, the key to sustaining the fishery is ensuring the young black cod survive until their older years, spawning multiple times to produce fish for future generations when ocean conditions may be less productive and ultimately becoming a size that is profitable for fishers.

Black cod are targeted in many commercial fisheries. When their population is highly abundant, black cod are also difficult to avoid in fisheries targeting other stocks, such as Pacific whiting, Pacific cod or pollock in the North Pacific. This is the case now, as thousands of smaller, unmarketable black cod are being caught as bycatch in fisheries targeting other fish. For the past few years, commercial fishers have been catching increasing amounts of smaller black cod as fish from prior years of high recruitment are contributing to the spawning stock. According to the most recent stock assessment produced by the Northwest Fisheries Science Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the recruitment events from 2020 and 2021 are the highest on record. Some of these smaller black cod are being caught as unavoidable bycatch, which is a challenge for fishery managers. 

As if on cue, earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report, Federal Fisheries Management: Efforts to Reduce and Monitor Unintentional Catch and Harm Need Better Tracking, which calls for the NMFS and Regional Fishery Management Councils to gather more data from fisheries and produce more reliable bycatch estimates to better inform fisheries-management decisions. In response to the GAO’s recommendations, NMFS is planning to produce an annual online report on bycatch trends and estimation methods that will be available by the end of March 2025.

While accounting for total catch, including bycatch, is critical to ensuring fisheries are managed sustainably for the long term, no one—especially fishers—wants to catch fish they cannot sell. As the market has been saturated with black cod for the last two years, prices have dropped to record low levels, which does not bode well for the coastal fishing communities that depend on the revenue generated from black cod to sustain them throughout the year. 

For the past few years, black cod quotas in the North Pacific and off the U.S. West Coast have steadily increased. In December 2023, Alaska fishermen urged managers in the North Pacific to adopt lower quotas for 2024 in response to the weak market as the fishery attained only 60% of its Total Allowable Catch (TAC) in 2023, but to no avail. Similarly, this June, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), responsible for managing fisheries along the U.S. West Coast, adopted annual catch limits for black cod (sablefish) for West Coast fisheries for 2025 and 2026 that are more than double the limits for 2023 and 2024. This decision was made despite concerns expressed by fishery participants for how higher catch limits could exacerbate low market conditions and even though only 72% of the lower black cod limit had been attained in 2023.

NMFS’ planned online bycatch report will not come too soon as high sablefish recruitment events were detected by NMFS surveys again in 2022, and the stock assessment indicates the population will stay at these high levels for at least the next ten years. This projection, however, will hold true only if environmental conditions for black cod remain favorable, sufficient prey are available to support their increasing numbers, and total catch, including bycatch, is properly managed to ensure sustainability of the population. 

Climate change definitely adds to the challenges of managing fisheries, but even fish stocks that experience an increase in abundance as a result of changing environmental conditions need to be well-managed. Take action with Ocean Conservancy and join the movement to protect our ocean, its fisheries and its wildlife from the impacts of climate change.

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Calamari Poses Sustainability and Climate Challenges

So common is batter-fried squid—Calamari, as it’s labeled on seafood menus—that it may come as a surprise how unique and important this valuable species is to coastal communities and ecosystems. On the West Coast of the United States, the species behind this seafood favorite is market squid (Loligo opalescens), a member of the cephalopods, a class that includes squids and octopuses. Fishers use powerful lights to attract squid to the surface and capture them with encircling nets. Year after year, the market squid fishery is typically the largest of California’s fisheries by volume, value or both. October is National Seafood Month, so let’s take a closer look at this important fishery. 

According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, managers do not know the size of the market squid population and have not confirmed that current fishing rates are sustainable. Assessments of a fish stock are usually conducted to determine a sustainable rate of fishing, but squid biology is quite different from the fish species for which sustainable yields are typically calculated. Squid are invertebrates with unusual biology and short life cycles, dying shortly after spawning. This makes assessing the status of squid populations a challenge. 

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Scientists and managers are exploring promising novel ways to assess squid and assure sustainability. For now, managers rely on the idea that regulating the number of squid fishing vessels and constraining fishing to only five days a week will allow enough squid spawning to support the fishery. As part of much-needed improvements to the California Squid Fishery Management Plan currently being considered, managers are recommending slightly shortening the fishing week to ensure harvest pressure on squid is sustainable. This action has Ocean Conservancy’s strong support.

Those aren’t the only challenges the management of market squid is facing. Decisions on several other critical issues are set for later this year. Those include: 

• Considering climate: Changing ocean conditions are shifting where and how well squid can reproduce and sustain fishing. Fishery managers need to track and forecast changes in water temperature, currents and upwelling to ensure fishing pressure matches squid productivity. We are urging managers to rapidly test and apply new science-based forecasts in harvest control rules.
• Calamari for all: Squid are a favorite in the diets of many fish, birds and marine mammals. Managers should consider the needs of the entire food web to protect squid’s role as a forage species. Fishery management control rules and limiting the fishing week help ensure that enough squid are left in the ocean for prey species.
• Fishery on the move: Calls are rising to allow fishing well north of traditional squid fishing areas where squid are now appearing more frequently. While squid do appear to be moving north, allowing fishing for market squid in these new areas could upend current management, which is based on a fixed fishing fleet and a single market. 
• Lighting the night: Powerful lights used by squid fishers to attract and concentrate squid alter the natural patterns of light and dark relied on by nocturnal seabirds to feed and protect their young. California should prohibit nighttime fishing around key breeding sites of the Scripps’s Murrelet and other nocturnal seabirds.
• Hitting bottom: Heavy squid nets can contact the seafloor and damage both marine habitat and the beds of newly laid squid eggs. A net accessory called a “rib line” is used by many fishers to control bottom contact, and Ocean Conservancy is supporting a recommendation to make rib lines mandatory in management plan discussions this fall. 

Market squid is a critically important fishery in California and a beloved staple on restaurant menus across the country. That’s why state and federal managers need to remain committed to sustainable management of this fishery and to providing better tools to help managers adapt to climate impacts.

Ocean Conservancy is working in the halls of power, on both sides of the aisle, to address climate change swiftly. Take action with us and help push for policies that protect our ocean and the wildlife and communities that depend on it from the effects of climate change.

The post Calamari Poses Sustainability and Climate Challenges appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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The Bering Sea Snow Crab Collapse: A Climate-Driven Crisis

October is National Seafood Month, a time to celebrate the incredible diversity of ocean life and the hardworking communities that rely on the ocean for food, livelihoods, recreation and other benefits. At Ocean Conservancy, we are dedicated to protecting these marine ecosystems and supporting the sustainable fisheries that rely on them. However, this year, we must also recognize the severe challenges facing one of Alaska’s most iconic and most valuable fisheries: Bering Sea snow crab. In 2022, for the first time in history, this fishery was closed due to a sudden, dramatic decline in the abundance of adult and juvenile crabs. While it was recently announced that the fishery will be reopened for the upcoming season—a welcome relief for the fishers and communities hit hard by the closures—this remains a climate-vulnerable stock. The reopening brings hope, but the collapse serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing threats climate change poses to marine ecosystems.  

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What happened to the crabs?

The collapse of the Bering Sea snow crab population was swift and devastating. Following the 2018-2019 marine heatwave, nearly 47 billion crabs (yes, that’s 47 billion) disappeared from the region by 2021, representing population declines in excess of 90%. This event represents a catastrophic loss of marine life due to climate change, resulting in profound consequences for communities and marine systems in Alaska. Especially impacted is the island of St. Paul, home to the world’s largest crab processing plant. This mostly Indigenous community is highly dependent on the snow crab fishery and declared a cultural, economic and social emergency in the wake of the plant’s closure. In some cases, town officials turned to external fundraising to maintain critical municipal functions such as emergency medical services.

Understanding the mortality event

Research from NOAA Fisheries links the snow crab fishery collapse to a marine heatwave that struck the Bering Sea between 2018 and 2019. Temperature rise and associated ecological changes emerged as the key culprits. While snow crabs could tolerate the warmer waters caused by the heatwave, warmer temperatures meant higher metabolisms, requiring them to consume nearly twice as much food to meet the increased metabolic demands. At the same time, those warmer waters meant both less suitable habitats and reduced prey availability—this pushed the crabs into smaller, more densely populated areas. The combination of higher caloric demands and increased competition for limited resources led to mass starvation, which scientists have determined was the immediate cause of snow crab deaths. Bycatch and habitat impacts from the trawl fleet (which uses large trawl nets to fish on the bottom of the ocean for groundfish) are also contributing factors, and continued harvest of crab by the trawl fleet when the directed fishery is closed impedes recovery.

Borealization: an ongoing ecological shift

The changing environmental conditions and subsequent collapse of the snow crab fishery are indicative of a larger ecosystem trend known as borealization: an ecological shift poleward from Arctic to sub-Arctic—or boreal—conditions, in this case driven by anthropogenic climate change. The southeastern Bering Sea is what’s known as a marginal ice zone, meaning its ecology is deeply influenced by the presence or absence of winter sea ice. As sea ice continues to retreat due to rising temperatures from climate change, the region is shifting toward conditions more characteristic of boreal (sub-Arctic rather than Arctic) ocean ecosystems. A recent study showed that, compared to the pre-industrial era, this change to boreal conditions is more than 200 times more likely to occur now, highlighting the profound impact of climate change on these kinds of marine ecosystems.

The implications of borealization are significant for the future of marine life and resources, as evidenced by what’s happened to the snow crab fishery. With studies anticipating a future with more boreal-condition years in the Bering Sea region, the traditional grounds of this fishery may continue to shift northward. As other fish stocks move northward there is pressure from industrial fishing fleets to move north with the fish, bringing devastating impacts from bycatch, habitat destruction and disruption to predator/prey relationships. In Alaska this is particularly harmful to Alaska Native Tribes whose lives and cultures are deeply connected to a healthy ocean ecosystem. 

The path forward: adaptation and resilience

A 2022 bottom-trawl survey revealed some encouraging signs for the short-term recovery in the abundance of snow crab, namely lower seafloor temperatures and a higher population of juvenile crabs. This optimism is further reinforced by the announcement that the fishery will reopen for the 2024/25 season. While this news is heartening for fishing communities, NOAA Fisheries anticipates that Arctic conditions in the southeastern Bering Sea will not persist, suggesting a double-edged sword of short-term recovery and long-term uncertainty. And to date, NOAA Fisheries and the North Pacific Fishery Management Council have not taken any steps to reduce impacts on snow crab from the trawl fleet. This reality emphasizes the need for adaptive management that can secure the future of snow crab—and other marine resources—for future generations of fishing communities, subsistence users and consumers.

Particularly, the snow crab collapse underscores the need for adaptive management strategies that account for rapid ecological changes. Traditional management models, which rely on the assumption that the future will roughly resemble the past, are increasingly unreliable in a world where climate change is driving major paradigmatic shifts across ecosystems. Instead, forward-looking scientists and managers are advocating for a more integrated and climate-ready approach that takes into account the interconnectedness of species and their habitats and for climate change. For example, the borealization index developed for the snow crab study combined several ecological indicators (including ice cover and temperature) to track the ecosystem’s transition from Arctic to boreal conditions. This kind of study could provide a template for determining the impacts of ecosystem changes on other commercially important species, a critical input for management considerations.

The collapse of the Bering Sea snow crab population is a stark reminder of the urgent need to adapt quickly and secure the future of our seafood. For fishing communities in Alaska, the closure of the snow crab fishery has been a devastating blow, but it is also a wake-up call for policymakers and managers. As we observe National Seafood Month, let us not only celebrate what the ocean provides but commit ourselves to protecting it. That means that NOAA Fisheries must continue to rebuild fisheries and provide better tools to help managers and fishers adapt to increasing climate impacts. At Ocean Conservancy, we are actively working with NOAA and other managers, scientists and communities to develop those adaptive strategies for sustainable management. By advocating for evidence-based policies and supporting conservation efforts, we are striving to protect marine biodiversity and the livelihoods of those who depend on a healthy ocean. Please consider donating to Ocean Conservancy to make a difference today.

The post The Bering Sea Snow Crab Collapse: A Climate-Driven Crisis appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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Gag Grouper Fishery Deserves Your Attention

October 1 kicked off National Seafood Month, a great time to remember the importance of effective fishery management that supports sustainable fisheries. It is also a time to reflect on how we can better ensure thriving fisheries and fishing communities into the future, especially in light of the damage to fishing communities from Hurricane Helene. After the immediate need for clean-up and infrastructure rehabilitation, access to healthy and sustainable fisheries is an essential part of getting fishing communities back on their feet. Unfortunately, according to the latest Status of Stocks report, several important fish stocks in the Gulf of Mexico are overfished and managers have struggled to rebuild them. Red grouper was recently declared overfished and greater amberjack is in its third rebuilding plan after the first two failed.   
 
But it’s gag grouper—with rebuilding problems and historic low population levels – that is a poster child for ongoing management challenges to rebuilding struggling fish stocks. Low stock levels negatively impact the fishermen and communities that rely on this important fish stock and seafood staple. 

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Three thematic challenges are preventing rebuilding progress in our fisheries: (1) too many stocks are still overfished, (2) efforts to rebuild stocks are struggling and (3) climate change is making the need to rebuild stocks even more critical for fisheries’ resilience. 

Like many of the other stocks that are continuing to fail to rebuild, a simple fact remains: Gag grouper are popular. They are among the most sought-after fish stocks in the Southeastern United States where they are caught both by commercial and recreational fishermen. 
 
Gag groupers have extremely complex spatial distributions that align with different phases of their complicated lives, including sex reversal from female to male. Gag grouper are hermaphrodites; they are all born female and some will change to male later in life. From birth as female, it takes nearly a decade before a gag grouper might transition to male. That means that a large number of fish need to be allowed to get old. High discard rates and impacts from climate change mean that not many fish are getting old enough for the population to reproduce. 
 
This complicated life history, combined with gag groupers’ favored status with fishermen, makes them highly vulnerable to the impacts of fishing and changes in the environment. Let’s take a look at how these three major challenges impact Gulf of Mexico gag grouper.

1. Gag grouper is overfished

Gag grouper was previously considered overfished and declared rebuilt in 2014 after a concerted effort to bring the stock back to healthy levels. However, the most recent assessment by scientists indicates that the gag grouper stock is both overfished (the population is too low) and undergoing overfishing (too many fish are being killed to maintain sustainable levels). Making a bad situation more dire, research has shown that males make up only 2% of the gag grouper population. As a result, the gag grouper stock is once again on the brink of collapse. 

2. Efforts to rebuild gag grouper are struggling

To meaningfully rebuild our fisheries, management actions should focus on reducing the key drivers of mortality. Faced with the catastrophic stock status of gag grouper, managers implemented recent fishing regulations that dramatically cut the amount of fish that could be caught and kept and reduced the days the fishing season was open. To many fishermen, this reduction came as a shock, but more frustrating for everyone is that the reductions don’t actually address the root causes of overfishing. The science shows the reasons for the dramatic decline of this species: red tides and impacts from discards by recreational fishermen. 
 
With discards, fish are caught and then returned to sea—many of these discarded fish die. For every keeper, about eight gag groupers will be thrown back and one will die, likely due to stress, barotrauma or being eaten by predators after release. Dead and discarded gag grouper now outnumber kept fish for a given year. In their haste to implement a plan, fishery managers cut corners and omitted actions that would have addressed the key drivers of mortality (like discards),ending up with a rebuilding plan that leaves no assurance that the stock will rebuild. Fishery managers must look at the root causes of fish population decline and solve those real problems. 

3. Climate change is making rebuilding harder

Rebuilding an overfished stock is not easy, and climate change makes that difficult task even harder. Having a robust age structure of the population that supports a healthy male population is critical. Right now, the majority of the population is juvenile females.

As stated by renowned fishery scientist Dr. Susan Lowerre-Barbiei,

“Two percent male is not a healthy population, by any standard, in any other species, terrestrial or marine.” 

First, protecting the older male population on offshore reefs is fundamental to successfully rebuilding the gag grouper stock. Second, scientists have suggested that heavy fishing pressure in nearshore waters on the female population is a bottleneck that is preventing more fish from becoming old and transitioning to male. To reduce fishing pressure on younger fish, managers need to consider increasing size limits, evaluating gear restrictions, aggregating seasons, exploring spatial refuges and developing adaptive in-season modeling. Third, managers need to consider the climate vulnerability of fish stocks and communities when making management decisions. Gag grouper are highly vulnerable to climate change, meaning that they are expected to be highly susceptible to the impacts of climate-driven environmental changes, yet managers haven’t quite figured out how to account for this climate vulnerability with proactive management. These vulnerabilities should be mitigated in the form of management actions to bolster stocks in the face of climate change. 

The recent devastation from Hurricane Helene on Gulf Coast fishing communities underscores the critical need for healthy, abundant fisheries. The good news for gag grouper in the Gulf of Mexico is that scientists and fishermen are reporting a lot of small fish. If we can take actions to ensure that more of these young fish survive and mature into adults so they can reproduce, these actions could help rebuild the fishery in the future. Rebuilt fisheries are not just essential for marine ecosystems, they are vital for the economic recovery of coastal communities that rely on fishing. As we recognize National Seafood Month this October, it is a great time to push for these solutions. NOAA Fisheries needs to commit to rebuilding fisheries and provide better tools to help managers adapt to climate impacts.

Ocean Conservancy continues to advocate for solutions to the challenges gag grouper management is facing and is hard at work tracking gag grouper landings, management actions and progress to rebuild the stock. Please donate to Ocean Conservancy today; you will make a difference for the future availability of our seafood supply and a healthier future for our ocean.

The post Gag Grouper Fishery Deserves Your Attention appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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Three New Deep-Sea Discoveries

The deep sea continues to reveal new secrets, reminding us of its wonder and its vulnerability to emerging threats such as seabed mining. 

Take the recent revelations about “dark oxygen.” The conventional thinking until recently has been that oxygen can be made only in the presence of sunlight. That is, plants convert sunlight and water during photosynthesis into the oxygen that marine life and people breathe. However, scientists recently discovered a mind-blowing phenomenon: The deep sea makes oxygen in the absence of sunlight. 

Researchers couldn’t believe their findings, so much so that they initially wrote them off, pointing to flawed instrumentation. However, sure enough, the data showed a consistent increase in “dark oxygen” measured at the bottom of the ocean in fields of polymetallic nodules. These are the same potato-size masses coveted by the mining industry for critical minerals used in everything from cell phones to electric car batteries. The nodules, which form over millions of years, are the result of metals such as iron and manganese precipitating out of the water and accreting on a hard object, like a fish bone. 

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The research team ruled out other processes that might explain the uptick in oxygen, including microbes. 

The researchers hypothesize the dark oxygen is likely the result of electrolysis, the process by which electrical currents split water into hydrogen and oxygen. So, where is the electricity needed to perform this chemical reaction? It is the voltage detected in the nodules themselves. The nodules could act as natural batteries when clustered together in numbers that generate enough juice to split the water molecule into the elements of hydrogen and oxygen. 

This is a significant finding because it raises important questions about the role of dark oxygen in the deep ocean where oxygen is naturally scarce. Most marine species, just like people, need oxygen to survive, absorbing oxygen through gills and other apparatuses. Dark oxygen could make all the difference to species in an environment where oxygen is not only naturally limiting but expected to decrease because of climate change. As oceans warm, they lose their ability to absorb and hold oxygen, as the water warms up and stratifies at the surface.

Deep-sea mining could further upend the deep-sea ecosystem by removing the nodules, preventing the production of oxygen that could be key to the survival of animals living there. In addition, we already know that mining will likely create plumes of sediment that would eventually resettle, potentially smothering nodules and interfering with their ability to produce oxygen. 

But these and other impacts of deep-sea mining would not be limited to the seafloor. In another recent study, scientists demonstrated that the unwanted tailings from seabed mining activities could expose organisms that live in the water column to harmful contaminants. In a laboratory experiment, they studied the types and amounts of trace metals in the mining wastewater, finding that the levels of cobalt and copper would be 15 times higher than background levels. 

Copper is among the most toxic substances known to aquatic organisms. Research suggests that as ocean temperatures and acidification levels increase, this will magnify the toxicity of copper to marine life. What’s more, copper accumulates in fish and other marine species, including species of seafood we eat, posing a potential threat to people who eat fish with elevated copper levels. 

Researchers say these copper-laced plumes could be especially problematic for mesopelagic communities (organisms inhabiting intermediate ocean depths) at depths between 200 and 1,000 meters. Why is this significant?  Mesopelagic species are critical to ocean carbon sequestration and climate regulation; trillions of hungry animals migrate to the surface each night to feed, and in the process of returning to the deep ocean during daytime they transfer between 2-6 gigatons of carbon annually into the deep ocean. 

Mesopelagic species also provide an important food source for marine mammals, seabirds and fishes, including seafood species that support important commercial fisheries worldwide. According to Food and Agriculture Organization dataanalyzed by Ocean Conservancy, an estimated 24 billion pounds of commercially significant fishery species such as tunas, salmon swordfish and squids that eat mesopelagic prey were landed in 2022. Deep-sea mining could potentially pull the rug out from under this incredibly important ecosystem. 

Seabed mining could expose these mesopelagic species to toxic tailings, potentially jeopardizing key functions ranging from climate regulation and sustaining ocean food webs to supporting pelagic (open sea) fisheries and putting protein on the table for millions of people. 

The more we learn about the deep sea, its unique adaptations and the many services it provides to the ocean and humanity alike, the more the threat of seabed mining comes into clearer focus. Ocean Conservancy supports a moratorium on deep-sea mining and is working with the ocean conservation community and the government to stop this practice before it starts. Recently, Ocean Conservancy signed a letter to President Biden calling for a moratorium, or precautionary pause, on deep seabed mining, domestically and internationally. Additionally we have worked with Members of Congress to oppose deep sea mining. You can take action with us to stop seabed mining.

We can and must grow clean energy to meet climate goals, but this cannot be at the cost of our oceans and local communities. By investing in new battery technology, alternatives to deep sea minerals and circularity in mineral supply chains here at home, the United States can scale its renewable energy sector while reducing its dependence on foreign supplies of critical minerals. This is in the best interest of economic and national security and the long-term health of our oceans and planet.

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