join in calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining
For the past three years, our participants have been advocating at the International Seabed Authority, which under an international treaty, has jurisdiction over any mining on the high seas.
Why?
The deep sea is our sacred place of creation. It is our country, it is our home. Our ancestors have lived in harmony with the ocean for thousands of years, respecting its power and abundance while recognizing our place within it. We have developed a deep spiritual connection to the ocean, and it is an integral part of our daily lives. It is the source of our food, our recreation, and our cultural practices. In conversations to mine the deep sea, there's no consideration that we come from this space. It's about extraction, with no regard for culture.
We stand together and call for a moratorium on deep-sea mining.
Solomon Kahoʻohalahala, Ekolu Lindsey (Hawaiʻi), and Hinano Murphy (Tahiti) at an ISA meeting in Jamaica.
DEEP SEA MINING THREAT IN AMERICAN SAMOA
On June 16, 2025 the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) initiated the first steps that could potentially lead to a lease sale for mining in U.S. federal waters off American Samoa, near the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument. This process was in response to a request by California-based mining company Impossible Metals. Comments on the BOEM request for information and interest (RFI) are due no later than August 15.
The people and government of American Samoa have made their position clear: deep-sea mining has no place in their waters. Nearly all U.S. Pacific states and territories—including California, Washington, Oregon, Hawai‘i, and Guam—have taken similar action by banning, restricting, or prohibiting deep-sea mining within their waters. Across the Pacific, nations and territories such as Palau, Fiji, Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, and French Polynesia have also called for a moratorium.
As Indigenous peoples of the Pacific, our connection to the ocean is ancestral, spiritual, and essential to our survival. For generations, we have lived in harmony with the ocean, guided by our responsibility to future generations. Now, as deep-sea mining threatens to disrupt this balance, our voices must be at the forefront — rooted in the knowledge that we come from this space. The ocean is not a resource to be exploited; it is our relative, our home.
READ OUR LETTER TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR.
TAKE ACTION NOW.