Why in News:

• India will soon scour the ocean bed to unravel the mysteries of the origins of life as scientists are set to travel up to 6,000 metres below the sea surface under a deep ocean mission (DOM).

About Deep Ocean Mission 

• It is an initiative spearheaded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) in collaboration with ISRO, DRDO, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Indian Navy.
• The Indian government wants to understand the oceans better, both as a resource and for the conservation of marine biodiversity.
• One of the main aspects of the mission will be design, development and demonstration of human submersibles..
• Under the mission, studies are planned at depths close to 6,000 metres under six major components —

1. Mineral exploration on the sea-bed;
2. Study and mapping of biodiversity;
3. Study of climate change;
4. Exploration of marine biology and developing allied courses,
5. Training; development and demonstration of ocean exploration
6. Off-shore technologies for future.

• The DOM will also help India map the ocean bed, which is a rich source for metals and minerals.
• The mission is also directed towards capacity development in marine biology which will provide job opportunities in Indian industries
• The mission will help scientists identify and demarcate resource-rich areas which could be exploited later when suitable technology is available for deep sea mining.
• The exploration studies of minerals will pave the way for commercial exploitation in the near future as and when such a code is evolved by the International Seabed Authority.
• The DOM could also lead to the development of various technologies such as acoustic phones, components that withstand a high-pressure environment, research vessels and related infrastructure.

Background of deep ocean mission

• India has been allotted a site of 75,000 square kilometres in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) by the UN International SeaBed Authority for exploitation of polymetallic nodules (PMN).
• These are rocks scattered on the seabed containing iron, manganese, nickel and cobalt.
• Being able to lay hands on a fraction of that reserve can meet the energy requirement of India for the next 100 years.
• It has been estimated that 380 million metric tonnes of polymetallic nodules are available at the bottom of the seas in the Central Indian Ocean.
  • India’s Exclusive Economic Zone spreads over 2.2 million square kilometres
• The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) will be the nodal Ministry implementing this multi-institutional mission

Significance of the mission

• The mission forms a part of the Blue Economy envisioned to be developed by 2030, which will place India among select countries — US, France, Japan, Russia and China — to have special missions dedicated for ocean studies.
• It is a strategic and geo-political move in order to further strengthen India’s position in the Indian Ocean region.
• Globally, only 11 percent of marine species have been identified. The deep ocean species are even less explored. Hence the Deep Ocean Mission will be helpful in identifying the species and knowing more about climate change.

Economic Potential

• It will enable India to develop capabilities to utilise resources in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB). 
  • CIOB reserves contain deposits of metals like iron, manganese, nickel and cobalt. It is envisaged that 10% of recovery of that large reserve can meet the energy requirement of India for the next 100 years.
• India has also been allotted 75,000 square kilometres in the CIOB by the UN International Sea Bed Authority (ISA) for exploration of poly-metallic nodules.
  • The ISA is an institution set up under the Convention on Law of the Sea to which India is a Party.

• Polymetallic nodules have economically valuable metals such as Copper, Cobalt, Nickel and Manganese in them and are viewed as potential resources to take care of the depleting land resources and increasing demand of these metals.

What is PMN

• Polymetallic nodules are rounded accretions of manganese and iron hydroxides that cover vast areas of the seafloor, but are most abundant on abyssal plains at water depths of 4000-6500 metres.
• They form through the aggregation of layers of iron and manganese hydroxides around a central particle (such as a shell or small rock fragment), and range in size from a few millimeters to tens of centimeters.
• Growth of these nodules is extremely slow, at a rate of millimetres per million years, and they remain on the seafloor surface, often partially buried in a thin layer of sediment.
• The composition of nodules varies with their environment of formation, but in addition to manganese and iron, they can contain nickel, copper and cobalt in commercially attractive concentrations as well as traces of other valuable metals such as molybdenum, zirconium and REEs. 
  • To know more about REE’s(Rare Earth Elements)- https://officerspulse.com/rare-earth-metals/

Other Blue Economy Initiatives related by India:

• India-Norway Task Force on Blue Economy for Sustainable Development: in order to promote Sustainable Development, of both the countries. The ultimate goal is to promote sustainable value creation and employment in the ocean-based industries.
• Sagarmala Project: The Sagarmala Programme is an initiative to enhance the performance of the country’s logistics sector. The programme envisages unlocking the potential of waterways and the coastline to minimize infrastructural investments required to meet these targets by using IT enabled services for modernization of ports.
• O-SMART: Main objectives of O-SMART (Ocean Services, Modelling, Applications, Resources and Technology) scheme of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Govt. of India are·

• To generate and regularly update information on Marine Living Resources and their relationship with the physical environment in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ),
• To periodically monitor levels of sea water pollutants for health assessment of coastal waters of India, to develop shoreline change maps for assessment of coastal erosion due to natural and anthropogenic activities,
• To develop a wide range of state-of-the art ocean observation systems for acquisition of real-time data from the seas around India,
• To generate and disseminate a suite of user-oriented ocean information, advisories, warnings, data and data products for the benefit of society,
• To develop high resolution models for ocean forecast and reanalysis system,
• To develop algorithms for validation of satellite data for coastal research and to monitor changes in the coastal research,
• Acquisition of Coastal Research Vessels (CRVs) for coastal pollution monitoring, testing of various underwater components and technology demonstration,
• To develop technologies to tap the marine bio resources,
• To develop technologies generating freshwater and energy from ocean,

• Integrated Coastal Zone Management: Integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) or Integrated coastal management (ICM) is a coastal management process for the management of the coast using an integrated approach, regarding all aspects of the coastal zone, including geographical and political boundaries, in an attempt to achieve sustainability.
• National Fisheries Policy: The National Fisheries Policy would offer a strategic way forward to develop, harness, manage and regulate capture and culture fisheries in a responsible and sustainable manner.

Reference:

1. https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/deep-ocean-mission-soon-to-study-origins-of-life-moes-official-122031800449_1.html