The Environmental Repercussions of Deep-Sea Mining in South-South Region of Nigeria: Investigating the Extents and Control Strategies

This study investigated the environmental repercussions of deep-sea mining and the strategies for mitigating its environmental impacts. In carrying out this study, a descriptive survey research design was adopted. The study was conducted in the South-South region of Nigeria. The target population consisted of all environmental scientists in the South-South region of Nigeria. A stratified sampling technique was employed to select 70 environmental scientists from each of the three selected states in the South-South region, namely Akwa Ibom State, Cross River State, and Rivers State, giving a sample size of 210 respondents. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire entitled "Environmental Repercussions of Deep-Sea Mining Questionnaire (ERDMQ)."The instrument was subjected to face and content validation by an expert in environment science to ensure its validity, appropriateness, and adequacy for the study. A reliability coefficient of 0.82 was obtained, indicating that the instrument was sufficiently reliable for data collection. The data collected for the study were analyzed using percentage analysis. The result of the findings revealed that habitat destruction (20.00%) recorded the highest percentage among the environmental repercussions of deep-sea mining, while slow recovery rate (9.05%) recorded the lowest percentage. The findings further revealed that Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Monitoring (24.76%) recorded the highest percentage among the mitigating strategies, whereas Sustainable Mining Limits and Resource Control (15.72%) recorded the lowest percentage. The study concluded that although deep-sea mining provides access to valuable mineral resources, it poses significant environmental risks that require effective mitigation measures. One of the recommendations made was that governments and international regulatory agencies should strengthen environmental regulations, enforce comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessments before mining activities, and establish marine protected areas to safeguard fragile deep-sea ecosystems.