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The immense bow lies upright on the seafloor, almost as if the ship were continuing its voyage.

In a new report, Coastal Commission staff allege that Sable’s activities — which include excavation, grading, removing vegetation and placing cement bags on the seafloor — “have adversely impacted, and continue to adversely impact, coastal resources as a result of Sable’s outright refusal to comply with the Coastal Act.”

She had a simple point to make: that the pursuit of minerals from the seafloor, without understanding the consequences, was not the route to a green transition.

These ships also risk causing turbidity, making the water opaque by stirring up the seafloor, and thereby harming the balance of species and food pyramid.

The goal was to document a seafloor famously lush in seagrass, corals, turtles, dugongs, rays and sharks.