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Conservation groups, including the National Wildlife Federation and Oceana, are calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining for minerals until more research can be done on the potential environmental risks.

President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order fast-tracking seabed mining. His goal is to boost the nation's stockpile of minerals like lithium, cobalt and nickel used in cellphones, solar panels and long-storage batteries.

Geoff Shester, California campaign director and senior scientist for the advocacy organization Oceana, said it would be tragic to strip-mine the seafloor without regulations to mitigate the harm.

"You could essentially be eliminating huge ecosystems without even understanding what was there in the first place," Shester pointed out. "And without any possibility that these ecosystems can recover for centuries."

In 2022, California banned seabed mining in state waters. The International Seabed Authority has yet to pass meaningful restrictions and has already authorized some test mining in an area of the Pacific rich in polymetallic nodules, called the Clarion Clipperton zone.

The Trump administration has called deep-sea mining a "core national security interest," saying it cannot rely on foreign sources to supply the minerals. Shester thinks the U.S. government should take a more cautious approach.

"With the current administration's approach, there's really no recognition of the value of these ecosystems and the services they provide," Shester argued. "It's really about, 'How much money can be made in the short term to enrich the pockets of these large corporations?'"

He added deep-sea research has the potential to help cure disease and uncover genetic information that could help scientists understand the history of life on Earth.