India's Deep Ocean Mission Won't Result In Any Over Exploitation Of Marine Resources By Corporate Houses: Govt

The government on Thursday (16 March) said that India's Deep Ocean Mission will not result in overexploitation of marine resources by corporate houses.

Further, the mission will also not affect the life and livelihoods of fishers in the country, the government said.

Deep Ocean Mission is a multidisciplinary and multi-institutional national effort being implemented by organisations under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences and other national institutes.

The Mission aims to explore deep-oceanic resources and develop technologies for their sustainable use.

The outcome of the programme is intended to identify potential new resources and develop technology for harnessing them in future, which may generate additional opportunity for livelihoods.

Under the mission, technologies for deep sea mining and manned submersible are currently being developed in the country.

"Deep Ocean Mission would not result in any over exploitation of the marine resources by the corporate houses and will not affect the life and livelihoods of fishers in the country," Union Minister of State for Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

The minister said that the Deep Ocean Mission is related to the Blue Economy.

"The activities of Deep Ocean Mission will help the components of blue economy such as fisheries, tourism and maritime transport, renewable energy, aquaculture, seabed extractive activities and marine biotechnology," the minister said.

The overall estimated cost of the Deep Ocean Mission is Rs 4,077 crore for a period of five years (2021 to 2026).