{"id":74409,"date":"2025-10-22T10:01:50","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T21:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=74409"},"modified":"2025-10-22T10:01:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T21:01:57","slug":"pacific-activists-protest-deep-sea-mining-as-u-s-exploration-vessel-enters-port","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/pacific-activists-protest-deep-sea-mining-as-u-s-exploration-vessel-enters-port\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacific activists protest deep sea mining as U.S exploration vessel enters port"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cook Islanders holding a banner reading \u201cDon\u2019t Mine the Moana\u201d, have confronted an exploration vessel as it returned to Rarotonga port today, protesting the emerging threat of seabed mining.<\/p>\n\n

Four activists in kayaks paddled alongside the Nautilus<\/em>, which has spent the last three weeks on a U.S. funded research expedition surveying mineral nodule fields around the Cook Islands in partnership with the Cook Islands Government.<\/p>\n\n

The Nautilus<\/em> expedition comes just six months after President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order to expedite deep sea mining, tasking the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to fast track the licensing process. The research conducted on the Nautilus<\/em> expedition was funded by NOAA\u2019s Ocean Exploration Cooperation Institute. [1]<\/p>\n\n

Campaigners against seabed mining are calling the expedition one of the first steps in the Cook Island – U.S. partnership on their critical minerals deal which was announced in August, and say it demonstrates the political motive behind the expedition is to advance seabed mining. <\/p>\n\n

\"Cook
Cook Island activists peacefully confront the Nautilus at Rarotonga port, holding banners reading \u2018Don\u2019t Mine The Moana\u2019 as it returns from a 21-day deep sea exploration expedition visiting sites in the mineral exploration areas licensed by the Cook Islands authorities.
\u00a9 Robin Hammond \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Louisa Castledine, Cook Island activist and spokesperson for the Ocean Ancestors collective, says the Pacific movement against seabed mining is strong and mining enablers are not welcome.
<\/p>\n\n

\u201cRight now global superpowers like the U.S. are vying for control of deep sea minerals throughout the Pacific, in an attempt to assert their military might. Seabed mining will lead to the destruction of our home environments and put our Indigenous rights, cultural ways of living, and wellbeing at risk. Any government or corporate looking to exploit us in this way is no true partner of ours,\u201d says Castledine.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe need to open our eyes to the threats imposed on us by the seabed mining industry and stop the corporate takeover of our ocean. We have long endured environmental and political injustices, brought about by colonialism, that forcefully displace and compromise our way of living and survival. We are taking a stand against the exploitation of our people and resources. As Indigenous Peoples and custodians of the ocean we say NO to seabed mining.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

In August, the U.S. and Cook Islands governments announced their official partnership on developing seabed mineral resources. A senior official at the Cook Islands Seabed Minerals Authority described this research vessel expedition as “a first step in our collaboration”. [2] [3]<\/p>\n\n

Two of the three deep sea mining exploration licences in the Cook Islands’ EEZ waters are held by U.S. companies. [4] <\/p>\n\n

Seabed mining is an emerging destructive industry that has not started anywhere at commercial scale. If it goes ahead, seabed mining within Cook Islands waters could pave the way for mining throughout the Pacific.
<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace Aotearoa is also campaigning to stop seabed mining before it starts. Campaigner Juressa Lee says:

<\/strong>\u201cWe\u2019re here today, standing alongside our allies in the Cook Islands, who like many across the region want a Pacific blue line drawn against this destructive industry.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cJust like Greenpeace stood with Pacific Peoples in the fight against nuclear testing, we will continue to ally with them against this reckless industry that is gambling with our future.

\u201cThe Nautilus,<\/em> which was confronted today, is doing exploration for the U.S. Pacific People will not be sidelined by corporations and powerful countries that try to impose this new form of extractive colonialism on the region.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n

Further south in the Pacific in Aotearoa, Trans-Tasman Resources is seeking consent to mine the seabed off Taranaki, despite fierce opposition from local iwi, community groups, NGOs and over 50,000 New Zealanders.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\u201cPeople here in the Cook Islands face the same fight we\u2019re up against in Aotearoa. In both cases, Indigenous Peoples are leading the resistance against seabed miners, to protect ancestral territories and waters for future generations. Together we will resist them every step of the way,\u201d says Lee.<\/p>\n\n

More than 940 leading marine science and policy experts from over 70 countries have voiced their concerns about deep sea mining, and are calling for a precautionary pause on the start of deep sea mining to allow time to gather more scientific information on deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystems [5]
Resistance to deep sea mining across the Pacific is strong and growing. 40 countries have now joined the call for a pause or moratorium on deep-sea mining,<\/a> including Pacific states such as Palau, Samoa, Vanuatu and Tuvalu. Antigua and Barbuda and Romania added their support today.<\/p>\n\n

Notes<\/p>\n\n

[1] Donald Trump Executive Order<\/a><\/p>\n\n

[2] https:\/\/www.state.gov\/releases\/office-of-the-spokesperson\/2025\/08\/joint-statement-on-u-s-cook-islands-cooperation-on-seabed-mineral-resources<\/a>https:\/\/www.pmoffice.gov.ck\/2025\/08\/05\/joint-statement-on-u-s-cook-islands-cooperation-on-seabed-mineral-resources\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n

[3] Senior official from the Cook Islands Seabed Mineral Authority (source: 1:40) https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/pacific\/programs\/pacificbeat\/cook-islands-us-seabed-collaboration\/105640744<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n

[4] The companies that do own licenses in the Cook Islands EEZ are: Moana Minerals <\/strong>(who are a subsidiary of a US company Ocean Minerals LLC (OML).), Cobalt (CIC) Limited <\/strong>and CIIC Seabed resources, <\/strong>which is a joint venture between Belgian GSR and the Cook Islands Investment Corp. <\/p>\n\n

[5] https:\/\/deep-sea-conservation.org\/solutions\/no-deep-sea-mining\/momentum-for-a-moratorium\/<\/a> <\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPETITION: Stop deep sea mining\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

It\u2019s time for New Zealand to take a stand. Join our call on the New Zealand government to back a global moratorium on seabed mining.\n<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t \n Take Action\n <\/a>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cook Islanders holding a banner reading \u201cDon\u2019t Mine the Moana\u201d, have confronted an exploration vessel as it returned to Rarotonga port today, protesting the emerging threat of seabed mining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":74410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[109],"p4-page-type":[7],"class_list":["post-74409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greenpeace","tag-seabed-mining","p4-page-type-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\nPacific activists protest 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The whakapapa of my wh\u0101nau is a journey through Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. From the Whangape Harbour to Rawhiti via Ngawha, down to Tauranga Moana, over to Tupapa and Ngatangiia in Rarotonga, and north again to Tahiti. My tamariki, through their p\u0101p\u0101, also whakapapa to Toi village in Niue. I was raised by a frugal mother who was always mindful of her impact on the planet, and navigated it accordingly. My dad has always enjoyed nature and instilled in us that there were responsibilities we had to be able to keep enjoying it. This was my very first influence. When I became an adult and then a mother myself, decolonising my life became a priority to raise my tamariki with an unapologetic, Indigenous worldview. Along the way and without realising, my whakaaro around kaitiakitanga began to shift, or rather, return. I felt more responsible, but also more empowered. 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The whakapapa of my wh\u0101nau is a journey through Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. From the Whangape Harbour to Rawhiti via Ngawha, down to Tauranga Moana, over to Tupapa and Ngatangiia in Rarotonga, and north again to Tahiti. My tamariki, through their p\u0101p\u0101, also whakapapa to Toi village in Niue. I was raised by a frugal mother who was always mindful of her impact on the planet, and navigated it accordingly. My dad has always enjoyed nature and instilled in us that there were responsibilities we had to be able to keep enjoying it. This was my very first influence. When I became an adult and then a mother myself, decolonising my life became a priority to raise my tamariki with an unapologetic, Indigenous worldview. Along the way and without realising, my whakaaro around kaitiakitanga began to shift, or rather, return. I felt more responsible, but also more empowered. I connect the dots between 160+ years of colonisation, extractivism, social and environmental harms and injustices and a worldview that sees the environment as separate to people. That people are somehow entitled to take, own, throw away, destroy and degrade. We are witnessing the impacts from living in a system rooted in colonialism and racism and extractive industries are devastating the planet and furthering the climate crisis. Now, wannabe miners are eyeing up the seabed in the South Taranaki Bight, and also seeking to plunder the deep seas. This problem is colossal, but so is our fight to protect te taiao. There are solutions to these issues. We must stop seabed mining before it starts.","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/juressa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74409"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74413,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74409\/revisions\/74413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74409"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=74409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}