I am a mostly-retired physical oceanographer. I have consulted on behalf of environmental groups on several offshore mining projects, including offshore PNG, in the CCZ, offshore NZ, and elsewhere. In each case I looked at the impact reports filed by my scientist colleagues on behalf of mining companies. I have yet to see one that would meet minimum standards for a scientific publication. The data sampling is invariably too sparse in time and space to support a prediction of sediment plume trajectory over the entire proposed mining area/time interval, the analysis is superficial and fails to point out the limitations of the data, and the modelling is not validated by the little data available (read, "it is garbage"). Until the industry is able to provide a meaningful evaluation of impacts, I would say Wang and others like him are just whistling in the dark. Feel free to quote me on this.
I am a mostly-retired physical oceanographer. I have consulted on behalf of environmental groups on several offshore mining projects, including offshore PNG, in the CCZ, offshore NZ, and elsewhere. In each case I looked at the impact reports filed by my scientist colleagues on behalf of mining companies. I have yet to see one that would meet minimum standards for a scientific publication. The data sampling is invariably too sparse in time and space to support a prediction of sediment plume trajectory over the entire proposed mining area/time interval, the analysis is superficial and fails to point out the limitations of the data, and the modelling is not validated by the little data available (read, "it is garbage"). Until the industry is able to provide a meaningful evaluation of impacts, I would say Wang and others like him are just whistling in the dark. Feel free to quote me on this.