Trump order to speed up deep-sea mining permits in the Pacific sparks concern

US President Donald Trump’s executive order speeding up the permit process for deep-sea mining has caused an uncomfortable stir among ocean advocates, environmental groups, and politicians.

They worry that if seabed mining were to occur it would cause irreparable damage to the ocean’s eco-system.

“What they would be doing is disrupting thousands of years of coral systems,” said prominent New Zealand environmentalist and Green MP, Teanau Tuiono.

“It’s about profit and it’s certainly not about the interests of the Pacific … this is colonising behaviour.”