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Five minutes on what's actually being proposed in our waters, and why anyone is asking.
Hear what your neighbours are asking, and what scientists, industry, and elders are answering.
Find the next bilingual townhall, submit a question, follow the public record as it grows.
If "deep sea mining" is brand new to you, start here. Four short answers — written for someone who has never read about this before.
The floor of the ocean — what scientists call the abyssal plains. The waters around American Sāmoa drop to more than 4,000 metres in places, and the abyssal plains stretch deeper still. Most of that floor has never been seen by human eyes.
A small dark rock — usually about the size of a potato — that sits loose on the deep seabed. Each one is full of metals: manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper. They grow about one millimetre every million years.
The proposed practice of bringing those nodules — already lying loose on the seabed — back to the surface. The newest collector designs lift them off the bottom with little or no contact: no blasting, no dredging, no drilling, and little or no sediment plume. Older methods were more disruptive. No country has yet operated at commercial scale, and the rules are still being decided.
These metals feed batteries, the clean-energy transition, and the rare-earth supply chains that increasingly underpin both economic and defence security. Whether the cost of disturbing the deep seabed to obtain them is acceptable is the open question — the deep ocean hosts species found nowhere else, and long-term effects of any harvesting method at scale are still being studied.
Want a deeper read on any term? The platform's full glossary will open when townhalls begin.
These aren't abstract trade-offs. They are the parts of life in American Sāmoa that any decision about deep sea mining will touch first.
The waters being discussed are the same waters that feed our families. What happens to the catch if a sediment plume drifts toward the reefs?
Older dredging methods produced sediment plumes that could drift many kilometres. Newer pickup-style collectors aim to dramatically reduce — or avoid — midwater plumes, but real-world performance at commercial scale is still being measured. American Sāmoa's fringing reefs sit downstream of every proposed zone, so the technology used matters here.
These waters are named in legend, fished for generations, and held in customary stewardship. Mining is a permanent change to that relationship.
Questions and concerns surfaced in public townhalls. Real attribution will be added prior to launch — for now, we publish them composed, not anonymised away.
“What happens to the catch we bring back to Tutuila if a plume drifts toward the reefs?”
“We need to hear from the scientists, but we also need to hear from our matai. Both have authority over these waters.”
“If the revenue actually arrives, what protects it from being spent before our children are grown?”
“I want to know how this changes the catch my grandfather brought home.”
“Outreach must give the community both the pros and the cons — not a one-sided narrative.”
Quotes 1–4 are composites drawn from public townhall transcripts and reframed for the platform's editorial review. Direct attribution will be added prior to launch.
Tālofa lava. As the conversation around deep-sea mining grows louder, we owe it to ourselves — and to our children — to think clearly, speak honestly, and stand together.
When information is limited, concern is not opposition — it is responsibility. Our fishermen, families, youth, matai and faifeau all carry a stake in this ocean. Our questions deserve real answers.
Panic posts and “wake up!” headlines cannot replace science, law, and honest community discussion. Check the source. Ask questions. Talk to each other. Knowledge builds trust — rumours only spread fear.
The proposed mining area is not within American Sāmoa’s 0–3 nautical-mile local jurisdiction. From 3 to 200 NM, federal authority applies. Understanding this is not surrender — it is strategy. We cannot fight smart if we do not first see clearly.
American Sāmoa is not against progress. But if the deep ocean carries risk for our fisheries, our reefs, our culture, and our future generations — then any project must deliver real benefits: priority jobs, fair royalties, local business and port opportunities, infrastructure, community benefit agreements, and binding monitoring. Risk without reward is not partnership — it is exploitation.
Engagement does not mean blind support. It means demanding facts, safeguards, compensation, and accountability — at the same table where federal agencies, scientists, and industry sit. No seat. No voice. No guarantees. We have learned this lesson before: the LVPA conversations of the 2010s showed us what happens when our voice is treated as optional. We cannot afford that lesson again.
“Let us choose partnership over panic, facts over fear, and a future earned through unity — not one handed to us by people who never sat across from us.”
Community framework first shared by Edgar Feliciano · Facebook · May 2026
We don't ask you to take anyone's word for it. The platform shows you what's down there, and which agency, scientist, or community drew which line on the map.
A view of the proposed mining floor at −4,000 m. Sun shafts cutting through the water column. Drag to look around.
Drag-rotate the EEZ. See proposed mining zones, fisheries buffers, and marine-protected areas — all sourced and citable.
Established by Governor Pulaali’i Nikolao Pula on May 7, 2026. High-level strategic oversight, coordination, and policy guidance — supported by seven co-chaired subcommittees.
Port Administration · Public Works
Treasurer · Attorney General
ASEDA & Commerce
DHR · ASCC
MWR · EPA
MWR · Education
AG · Governor’s Legal Counsel
From February through April 2026, NOAA and partners are mapping more than 30,000 square nautical miles of federal waters off American Sāmoa — sonar, autonomous vehicles, and box cores hauling sediment back from five-kilometre depths. Every station is a real coordinate, a real depth, a real photo.
Data published by NOAA Ocean Exploration · Seafloor imagery courtesy of NOAA · Shipboard imagery courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey
Five structural safeguards are built into the platform itself: the three-source rule, visible dissent, an editorial review board, a one-click ‘this seems one-sided’ feedback loop, and a public source registry. Every safeguard survives staff turnover and political weather because it's encoded in the system, not in goodwill.
Townhalls begin in 2026. Leave us your email and we'll write to you in your preferred language when the platform opens — no marketing, no third parties.