Cabinet approves Deep Ocean Mission

• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved ""Deep Ocean Mission"", with a view to explore the deep ocean for resources and develop deep-sea technologies for sustainable use of ocean resources.
• The estimated cost of the Mission will be Rs. 4077 crore for a period of 5 years to be implemented in a phase-wise manner.

• The estimated cost for the first phase for the 3 years (2021-2024) would be Rs.2823.4 crore.
• Deep Ocean Mission with being a mission mode project to support the Blue Economy Initiatives of the Government of India.
• Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) will be the nodal Ministry implementing this multi-institutional ambitious mission.

The Deep Ocean Mission consists of the following six major components:

1. Development of Technologies for Deep Sea Mining, and Manned Submersible:

• A manned submersible will be developed to carry three people to a depth of 6000 metres in the ocean with a suite of scientific sensors and tools. Only a very few countries have acquired this capability.

• An Integrated Mining System will be also developed for mining Polymetallic Nodules from 6000 m depth in the central Indian Ocean.
• The exploration studies of minerals will pave way for the commercial exploitation in the near future, as and when commercial exploitation code is evolved by the International Seabed Authority, a UN organization.
• This component will help the Blue Economy priority area of exploring and harnessing deep-sea minerals and energy.

2. Development of Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services:

• A suite of observations and models will be developed to understand and provide future projections of important climate variables on seasonal to decadal time scales under this proof of concept component.
• This component will support the Blue Economy priority area of coastal tourism.

3. Technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity:

• Bio-prospecting of deep-sea flora and fauna including microbes and studies on sustainable utilization of deep-sea bio-resources will be the main focus.
• This component will support the Blue Economy priority area of Marine Fisheries and allied services.

4. Deep Ocean Survey and Exploration:

• The primary objective of this component is to explore and identify potential sites of multi-metal Hydrothermal Sulphides mineralization along the Indian Ocean mid-oceanic ridges.
• This component will additionally support the Blue Economy priority area of deep-sea exploration of ocean resources.

5. Energy and freshwater from the Ocean:

• Studies and detailed engineering design for offshore Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) powered desalination plant is envisaged in this proof of concept proposal.
• This component will support the Blue Economy priority area of offshore energy development.

6. Advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology:

• This component is aimed at the development of human capacity and enterprise in ocean biology and engineering.
• This component will translate research into the industrial application and product development through on-site business incubator facilities.
• This component will support the Blue Economy priority area of Marine Biology, Blue trade and Blue manufacturing.

• Oceans cover 70 percent of the globe,
• About 95 percent of Deep Ocean remains unexplored.
• Oceans are also storehouse of food, energy, minerals, medicines, modulator of weather and climate and underpin life on Earth.
• United Nations (UN) has declared the decade, 2021-2030 as the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.