deepsea mining
Honolulu, HAWAII — Solomon Kahoʻohalahala steadied himself on the double-hulled voyaging canoe called Hōkūleʻa as a 15-foot swell rose and the vessel took off under the midday sun. He had been paddling since dawn along the south shore of Molokaʻi, and his arms were tired. As the canoe reached the...

![The perception that the large deep-sea plains in the central Pacific are uniformly flat and only sparsely populated has persisted until the present day. As researchers from the European MiningImpact project found out: The ecological diversity down there is enormous, especially where many manganese nodules cover the seabed. (Editor’s Note: American Samoa under a Lemanu Administration Executive Order has a moratorium on deepsea mining — extracting, or removal of minerals.) [photo: ROV KIEL 6000/GEOMAR] NODULE HABITATS](https://www.samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/life_on_nodule_habitats.png?itok=R3PxEBeT)