Tretheway, like Elizabeth Rush, is a very good nature writer. I had some experience working on mapping vessels back in my youth and it was very interesting to “go back out” albeit in my arm chair with much newer vessels and equipment. She builds up the background of ocean mapping, how little we really know, e.g. 95% of what we’ve always assumed was a good map of the depths isn’t really good, it is an approximation generated by satellite sea level data and gravity measurements (and assumptions).
The task at hand is real mapping, as in bathymetric mapping, (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/maps/bathymetry/) using sonar and we are woefully behind in publishing the data we have at hand. Nations have largely mapped their economic zones but often consider the results secret and do not share the data. Efforts to get that data published often are caught up in national interest in establishing economic zones outside of normally recognized boundaries, like the zone around Guam and America’s interest in claiming that or China’s building of islands in the South China Sea to claim the seas around that.
Tretheway follows the vagaries of the Seabed 2030 initiative and tags along with the crews of a number of mapping ships and archeological dives. Her writing is clear and flows well. I wish the book I borrowed from the library used a less transparent paper, that was annoying.
She pulls few punches when she gets to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and delivers a bleak view of the extractive side of mapping. She, rightly I believe, is highly skeptical of the intents of the ISA and the mining industry. She also thinks that the mining companies are ignoring the mounting concerns of scientists, environmentalists, and nations in their pursuit of profits. The risks are enormous and could impact what is left of our carbon cycle if not handled correctly (or abandoned). A series of nations have called for a moratorium on seabed mining, surprisingly, Canada just joined that list.
This is worth the time to track down and read.
Having never given much thought as to how oceans become mapped, I was enlightened by your brief review of this book. I’d always assumed (naively) that all ocean mapping was of the bathymetric kind, and that individual mappers shared their findings on a global scale. I should’ve known that the information would be considered proprietary, for reasons of national security and economic interests.
Seabed mining does sound like a terrible idea. A lot can go wrong, that’s for sure.
On a brighter note, did you see this news article today?
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/23/climate/climate-five-reasons-positive-intl/index.html
The cynic in me bristled a little at the headline, but I have to say that I relaxed a bit by the time I read all the way to the end. Maybe our planet is still going to hell in a handbasket after all, but if we can delay the inevitable just a little longer, I’d call that a win.
As I may not see your blog again before January 1st, I’ll take a moment right now to wish you and your loved ones a Happy New Year filled with good health and prosperity and many opportunities to continue reading thought-provoking books and news articles. Keep up the good work!
Thank you and happy holidays to you and yours.