See also the Grade 10 site for details of the various ships used to recover diamonds from the ocean floor and also the section covering vessels, platforms and other structures involved in undersea oil and gas production.

The search for minerals on the ocean floor (e.g. diamonds off the southern Namibian coast) or oil and gas beneath the ocean floor is controversial. Any form of disturbance of the ocean floor (also occurring in dredging for diamonds or drilling for oil) will damage the undersea structures and sediment layers, especially very sensitive corals that abound in some tropical regions. Coral reefs are formed over a very long time; damage will take centuries to be reversed.

Companies prospecting for oil and gas or producing oil and gas from offshore fields do take great care to ensure that the environment is damaged as little as possible. Similarly, while some marine life will be disturbed, careful operations will keep such disturbances to a minimum. The advantages of producing more oil and gas are very important, not only in terms of fuel, but also in terms of employment and revenue earned.

Obviously oil pollution – as has happened several times when oil rigs or other structures have been damaged – is a horrific event. Read the short modified extract from Wikipedia below regarding the worst oil disaster.

Obviously, this was a tragic and well-reported saga, and was an exceptional accident. Television brought the entire incident – including graphic details of its affect on human beings and long-term effects on the environment – into living rooms across the world. Its impact on so many people shaped opinions and even government policies on such matters. However, smaller leaks from undersea pipelines or other oil installations are also problematic as they have a seriously adverse effect on their surrounding areas.