RIASSUNTO
ABSTRACT
The exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Japan has a very wide area. Accordingly, technology for the effective exploitation and use of mineral resources in the EEZ will be a key for sustainable development in Japanese industry. When marine mineral resources are developed, it is necessary to evaluate an environmental impact on the sea area and the deep seafloor. Then, a clarification is required for an environmental impact of the particles on the sea area and the deep seafloor by mining and discharged from the platform into the ocean. We have developed an analytical tool for evaluating environmental impact of the seafloor resource development.
INTRODUCTION
Japan has the EEZ with the sixth widest area in the world (Fig.1). The EEZ is expected to have promising resources such as seafloor massive sulfides, cobalt rich crust and methane hydrate, and so on through scientific explorations. As the worldwide supply and demand of mineral resources are being tight, technology for the effective exploitation and use of mineral resources in the EEZ will be a key for sustainable development in Japanese industry. Prior to development of marine mineral resources, it is necessary to evaluate its environmental impact on the water column and seafloor of ocean. However, environmental evaluation method has not been established for open ocean yet. Furthermore, Japanese EEZ is also estimated to have a possibility to secure a place for renewable energy, offshore fisheries, etc. In order to enhance the development of resources in the vast extent of this area, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan (MLIT) started an R&D project of floating offshore platform technologies in 2007 (Ishida et al., 2008). The National Maritime Research Institute (NMRI) has been conducting this project under the sponsorship of MLIT. This project includes a development in the environmental load prediction tool for the seafloor resources development at deep sea with the consideration of benthic organism.