Prime Minister welcomes At Sea, Sail Out Rally, rejects moratorium

Prime Minister Mark Brown has welcomed the At Sea,Sail Out Rally against deep-sea mining but has expressed reservations about the call for a moratorium on deep-sea activities.

The “peaceful rally” at sea and on land to call for a precautionary pause to deep sea mining is organised by Ocean Ancestors, a collective of individuals, NGOs, and businesses united by their shared passion for protecting the ocean. It will be held this afternoon, starting at 4pm, at the Avarua Harbour (Trader Jacks carpark).

Speaking to Cook Islands News during Parliament break yesterday, Brown, who is also the Minister for Seabed Minerals, welcomed the rally, noting that their concerns have been acknowledged from the beginning.

He emphasised that one of the things Cook Islands cherished as a country was freedom of expression, noting that the government welcomed the views of the protestors.

“We’re pleased that they are supporting the Cook Islands people's priorities in terms of the protection of our ocean. That’s always been our number one priority, and furthermore, we’re glad that they also support our call for research and more exploration so that we can have science-based and evidence-based decision-making rather than ideological-based decision-making so we are very happy with that,” Brown said.

However, the Prime Minister said they do not support the public’s call for a moratorium, as it would halt and prevent much of the research currently taking place.

“We’re very much in favour of increasing our knowledge and understanding of the deep ocean and the thing I like most about our regulations for the licensees that we have in place, is that information and that knowledge is owned by the Cook Islands,” Brown said.

“So we wanted to make sure that with that knowledge, it’s not taken away, we don’t lose it, it’s not owned by anybody else, it’s owned by us. The establishment of our Centre of Excellence on Deep Ocean Science, a lot of this research work is going to provide the fundamental information to really get this research institute up and running.”

When asked whether the protestors' views would be considered by the government, Brown said that their concerns have been heard “over and over” again.

“They’re calling for more research to be done before any mineral extraction can take place. That is exactly the policy that the government has,” he said.

“We cannot approve any sort of extraction until certain key milestones have been met, and it can be demonstrated to us that it can be done in a way that ensures the protection of our ocean. So, we have very similar thoughts in those lines.”

The peaceful rally at sea and on land by the Ocean Ancestors is anticipated to have a large turnout of supporters, who will be taking to the sea on surfboards, paddleboards, vaka and other water vessels, as well as on land.

They will be directed to gather around a floating banner, 15 metres by five metres, which simply states “Protect Our Ocean”.

Written by Talaia Mika | Published in Environment, Local, National,