Is The Government Hiding The TRUTH About The Ocean? | Unveiled

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Is the Government Hiding the TRUTH About the Ocean?</h4>

There aren’t many places on Earth that are still truly unexplored. Humankind has ventured into even the most dense and isolated realms of the rainforest, we’ve traipsed across miles of empty desert, we’ve reached the north and south poles, and we’ve sailed to countless desert islands. And yet, there is one place that’s still almost totally shrouded in darkness and mystery: the ocean.

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; is the government hiding the truth about the ocean?

The ocean covers seventy-one percent of the surface of the Earth. It has an average depth of 12,100 feet. It holds ninety-seven percent of the water on our planet, and an estimated ninety-four percent of the wildlife. And yet eighty percent of it (at least) is still unexplored. Despite all the other advances we’ve made in science and knowledge, that figure is pretty startling. So why have we seemingly left the ocean alone?

On the face of it, there are a few reasons, but most notably there’s the money and the danger. Ocean research simply isn’t as well funded as many other scientific fields are, and certainly not as well backed as space travel is. And without any especially notable spikes in the cash that gets spent, it’s proven slow going over the years to build a foundation for innovation. Missions into the ocean are so often viewed as isolated attempts… or even as quirky, foolhardy endeavors. And it’s rare that any one mission garners significant coverage. In history, since World War Two, we have the life and times of Jacques Cousteau; a handful of mostly infamous US Navy schemes - such as SEALAB; some even shadier experiments carried out in the Soviet Union… and that’s about it. And, while there is a growing private sector, it’s almost always the case that the only dives we hear about are the disastrous ones resulting in loss of life - such as the OceanGate Titan submersible implosion in June 2023.

Which takes us to the danger, and the ocean is clearly full of it. At the very deepest part - Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench - you need to withstand more than 1,000 times the pressure at sea level. The water is literally denser down there, and if you were to be piloting a sub you’d be doing so in pitch black darkness. In many ways, it might even be said that the ocean floor is a more dangerous environment than outer space is. Outside of a vessel, world record divers have reached depths of just more than 1,000 feet - or less than ten percent of the average depth of the sea, as a whole. In contrast, today’s astronauts can perform multiple space walks per mission, surviving outside of their vessel with far fewer problems. Perhaps part of the challenge is that, in some senses, space doesn’t really change once you get beyond Earth’s atmosphere and out into it… the ocean gets worse and worse the further down you go.

And yet, according to reports, it is (or should be) possible to overcome the hurdles to regularly reach the seafloor. Since the late 2010s, various environmental groups - including Greenpeace - have led campaigns against deep sea mining. Considered a growing strategy in ocean mining, companies and some governments are said to be planning to commit to it in a big way in the future - because of the resources that it could provide. For example, deep sea mining has been touted as a potential method of harvesting the minerals and metals needed to make the batteries in electric vehicles. New sources of things like lithium, cobalt, aluminum, nickel and zinc could all be found in this way. But it comes at a potentially huge environmental cost. Deep sea mining would instantly disrupt the local ecosystems, while reported plumes of pollution generated by the process could spread and linger for tens, even hundreds of miles around. The incongruous noise and light of the mining could drive animals away, or else lure them to danger. While the fundamental act of stripping the ocean of its resources could, according to campaigners, trigger food chain collapse.

The debate over deep sea mining is sure to rumble for years to come. But take away the questionable environmental ethics of it all and it’s a debate that does at least prove one thing; exploring the ocean is apparently possible. No matter that around eighty percent of it is currently unexplored, the sad truth is that if there’s money to be made (irrespective of the consequences) then humankind will suddenly find a way. Deep sea mining would involve the use of remote robotics and artificial intelligence, in various guises. Much as we send rovers to the surface of other planets, rather than people, most deep sea mining strategies involve employing machines on the seafloor to dig and siphon what the controlling companies need. It’s cutting edge innovation, it’s just a shame that it’s only now coming into play for a practice that could spark ecological ruin.

So, why not more widely employ aspects of that technology, but simply to investigate the ocean, rather than to ransack it? While the data does vary, in general within the last decade we’ve gone from less than ten percent of the ocean floor being mapped… to about twenty-five percent. A cynical view might be that that sudden acceleration is again all to do with the modern realization that money can be made from the sea floor. But, nevertheless, the increase in mapping has improved our knowledge of what’s down there - even if the ocean is still thought to be home to more undiscovered species than anywhere else on Earth. How different would the world be, though, if we did send the sorts of rovers that do already exist, but not to relentlessly mine? How much could we have already learnt if world governments had backed this kind of tech above, say, space travel? If the recent push for deep sea mining is anything to go by, it would appear that companies and the authorities are aware that ocean exploration can be done… it’s just that they haven’t been driven to do it until the idea of mining for minerals was put on the table. 

In recent times, for example, the British government has been criticized by groups like Greenpeace for its apparent reluctance to ban deep sea mining. Many nations - including France and Germany - have supported calls for a ban or a pause, but not the UK. Or the majority of others. In 2023, the International Seabed Authority reinstated a moratorium against deep sea mining, although it’s set to be debated again and again by the ISA, on an annual basis. Meanwhile, and while it is not directly linked, we can see just how undervalued the ocean has historically been when we compare the budget of NOAA (America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) with that of NASA. In 2023, NOAA received just less than $7 billion, for NASA it was just more than $25 billion. If roles were reversed, could we already have seen major ocean breakthroughs to rival the moon landing? Or the James Webb Space Telescope? Perhaps… but, in the here and now, we’re still just trying to find our way in the literal abyss.

What do you think should happen next? How should we view and treat the ocean in the future? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! For now, it would appear that we are at something of a fork in the road when it comes to ocean exploration. The technology is there, as demonstrated by the various proposals for deep sea mining… but is the backing there unless there’s an immediate return? Would world governments be interested if tackling the ocean didn’t top up their lithium reserves? Or afford them an edge, in general, in the race for future resources?

If missions to explore were supported; if the money that is being considered for mining was instead channeled into less environmentally destructive plans… then we might very quickly learn so much more about the sea. There are surely new species ready to be seen; perhaps massive, deep water creatures that we’ve never before set eyes upon; whole chapters of new research, just waiting to be made. But that’s why the government might be hiding the truth about the ocean.