The Chief Minister has announced a extension of the moratorium on seabed mining in response to our media statement. We have called for the permanent ban because of the damage seabed mining would do to the marine environment.  Seabed mining destroys marine habitat including mangroves, corals and seagrass, and smothers fish feeding and nursery grounds. This habitat supports rich marine life such as fish, dugongs and turtles, and needs permanent protection from seabed mining.

We welcome the Chief Minister’s decision to extend the moratorium on seabed mining for an additional three years and congratulate him on listening to widespread community concern. In our follow up media statement, we now call no the NT government to make this moratorium on seabed mining a permanent ban.

Jacqui