Yoram Carboex is a PhD candidate at the Department of Modern History and Society of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He is part of the interdisciplinary TripleDeep project (“TripleDeep—The Deep Dilemmas: Deep Sea Mining for the New Deep Transition”) investigating the viability and desirability of deep-sea mining. His own work focuses on the history of deep-sea mining. He researches how both state and non-state actors came to envision (environmental) regulatory regimes for the new extractive ocean industry emerging in the postwar period.
This article explores how the first scientific research into the environmental impact of deep-sea mining, done in the early 1970s, centered around a positive vision of humankind’s impact on the ocean. Scientists studying the potential of deep-sea-water upwelling for aquaculture hoped that these mining operations could provide the nutritious water needed to create “fish farms.” While their dreams proved futile, their efforts point to a spirit of optimism about the possibilities of engineering the ocean to suit human needs. This contrasts sharply with current discussions around deep-sea mining, which center on its potentially detrimental effects on the environment.
