Nautilus Minerals and the government claim there are no landholders for them to deal with. But in the Pacific we regard the sea as being just as much a part of our land as our mountains and our rivers. People have rights to use the sea and to harvest the things that live there.

Neither the government nor the mining company have identified the communities along the coast of New Ireland and East New Britain that stand to be impacted by the mining. Nor have they obtained their free, prior, informed consent.

Proposed experimental seabed mining in the Pacific will breach the well-established international law concept known as the precautionary principle. This is confirmed in a legal opinion prepared by the United States office of the Environmental Law Alliance WorldWide.

ELAW says the application of the precautionary principle supports a moratorium on seabed mining until the risks of harm to the marine environment and coastal people are better known and understood.