Ostensibly, the deep sea seems to be nothing more than this faraway, effectively irrelevant realm - a place surely too dark, too cold, and too deep to hold any ecological or societal significance. However, though once thought to be completely devoid of life, the deep sea is actually host to biodiversity among the highest on the planet, with over 30,000 known organisms spanning a wide range of phyla (Ramirez-Llodra et al. 2010, World Register of Deep-Sea species 2025). Furthermore, the deep sea, defined as the whole open ocean and seabed below 200 meters, is extremely vast, with a surface area estimated to cover well over 50% of Earth's surface (Paulus 2021). The deep sea is the most expansive environment on Earth. In this way, the deep sea, as opposed to the terrestrial land we humans inhabit, is the ecological norm on Earth.

The deep sea can be characterized by: 1) darkness and coldness, being defined by the depth beyond which sunlight can reach in the ocean; 2) extreme food limitation, with a general reliance on marine snow, or detritus, sinking from waters above for energy; and 3) high biodiversity, with highly specialized organisms, adaptations, and organismal interactions wholly unique to life in the deep sea (Ramirez-Llodra et al. 2010).

There are many different types of environments within the deep sea, each with their own unique geological features, organisms, and minerals. Among the most significant are abyssal plains, seamounts, and hydrothermal vents. Abyssal plains account for the greatest area by far in the deep sea, covering over 50% of Earth's surface (Smith et al. 2008). They can be characterized by cold waters and slow ocean currents, biogenetic sediment, extremely limited food access, and the presence of polymetallic nodules. Within abyssal plains, detrital aggregates (aka 'clumps' of fallen detritus from spring algal blooms in higher waters) and whale falls (aka dead whales that have sunk to the ocean floor) can cause spontaneous, opportunistic species to evolve, diversify, and proliferate dramatically, effectively creating highly unique, localized ecosystems from the sudden, concentrated food source (Paulus 2021). Seamounts are underwater volcanoes, and can be characterized by strong upwelling and hydrodynamics. The unique structure and geology of seamounts allows for extremely high biodiversity, including specialized deep-sea corals, benthic filter-feeders, fishes, and even turtles and marine mammals (Morato et al. 2010). Hydrothermal vents are described as chemically unique, superheated water penetrating deep into the Earth's crust being ejected upwards. This enables wholly unique ecosystems with highly specialized organisms around chemosynthesis, a biological process that converts inorganic compounds like hydrogen sulfide or methane (as opposed to sunlight) into food (Paulus 2021).

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 (UNCLOS) is the international treaty that governs all aspects of the world's oceans and seas. Essentially, UNCLOS serves as the international "Constitution for the Oceans," defining the legal framework for nations' rights and responsibilities of all ocean activities, and establishing rules for activities like navigation, resource exploitation, and environmental protection. This includes regulations on deep sea exploration and mining.

On January 29, 1982, President Reagan gave a statement on the United States' participation in UNCLOS. Notably, he said that the United States will not participate, specifically citing necessary revisions to Part XI of UNCLOS that "will not deter development of any deep seabed mineral resources to meet national and world demand" (Reagan 1982). That's to say, since the very beginning of international efforts to regulate deep sea mining, the United States has refused to formally comply explicitly because of concerns regarding rights to deep sea mining.

The United States did NOT sign the convention in 1982, and, despite the particular effort of President George W. Bush to "urge the Senate to act favorably on U.S. accession to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea" (Bush 2007), the United States has never ratified UNCLOS, maintaining autonomy to regulate deep sea mining within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) AND in international waters.

International Seabed Authority (ISA)

The International Seabed Authority (ISA), established under UNCLOS, is the primary international regulatory body for activities related to the common heritage of humankind in the Area (defined as the seabed under the high seas) beyond national jurisdiction. This includes protecting the marine environment from harmful effects of deep-sea activities, promoting and regulating scientific exploration, and weighing the social benefits with environmental risks of mining efforts (Lodge 2017). So far, the ISA has not finalized regulations for commercial-scale seabed extraction, effectively preventing international deep sea exploitation efforts from proceeding (Ackerman 2025). Regardless of the United States' historical compliance, the United States has never been legally bound to the rules and regulations established by the ISA.

On April 24, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed the executive order titled "Unleashing America's Offshore Critical Minerals and Resources". The following day, April 25, 2025, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published an article (featured below) in support of the executive order, citing the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Act (DSHMRA) to justify the agency's authority to review applications and issue licensure for United States entities to explore and commercially exploit deep sea resources in international waters.

DSHMRA, enacted in 1980, is a law established in the United States that allows US citizens to explore and recover hard mineral resources from the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction. It's intended to serve as an interim measure, designed to be a temporary framework until a global agreement is agreed to (such as the now-established UNCLOS).

Implications of President Trump's Deep Seabed Executive Order

President Trump’s Deep Seabed Executive Order, which aims to expand the United States' access to deep sea mining opportunities beyond national jurisdiction, carries significant political, ethical, and ecological implications. Politically, the order asserts unilateral United States interests in international waters, undermining multilateral governance frameworks like UNCLOS and the ISA, despite a history of compliance. Furthermore, President Trump outright cites the necessity to "counter China’s growing influence over seabed mineral resources" among his primary reasons to expedite deep sea mining by United States entities. Ethically, it challenges global norms around the equitable use of the common heritage of mankind, as it blatantly prioritizes national gain over shared stewardship of ocean resources. Ecologically, deep sea mining poses major risks to fragile and largely unexplored marine ecosystems, including the potential loss of biodiversity and irreversible damage to habitats critical to ocean health and climate regulation. The order exemplifies the tension between short-term independent resource exploitation, and long-term planetary sustainability and international goodwill.

Call on your government to take action now and protect the health of our ocean through the #DefendtheDeep Initiative.