New Delhi, June 25 -- Just two months after The Metals Company, a Canadian deep-sea minerals exploration firm, applied to the United States for permits to mine the Pacific seabed, new research has sounded an alarm about the potential harm the activity could cause to ocean life, including whales and dolphins.

The first of the two studies on the subject, published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, reviewed the noise sensitivity of species in the Clarion Clipperton Zone (CCZ) of the Eastern Pacific. This area is the proposed site for deep-sea mining of raw materials crucial for the 'green transition'.

The research revealed a significant knowledge gap: 65 per cent of taxonomic classes in CCZ, encompassing organisms that share common attributes,...