20,000 Leagues Under the Indian Ocean
Text by Shu Yun and Liao Jianlin Photographs courtesy of the authors unless otherwise credited
On February 19, 2017, China’s ocean scientific survey ship, Xiangyanghong 10, lifted anchor at Port Louis in Mauritius and set off south across 37 degrees south latitude for a lengthy journey.
On March 8, the ship crossed paths with a strong typhoon throwing seawater eight meters high. Thick, white waves shot up from the dark blue surges, pulling the ship forward like a galloping horse. Cups and tableware fell to the ground and drawers opened and closed like an impromptu symphony.
The trip was only the third leg of the 43rd ocean expedition by Chinese scientists. The first country to sign a contract granting rights to polymetallic sulfide exploration in the southwestern Indian Ocean, China dispatched the team to conduct primary exploration of the contract zone.
“Gold Rush” in the Deep
Whether roaring waves or silky tranquility, the crew is constantly engulfed by boundless blue. What is hiding beneath the several thousands of meters of mysterious water?
A robotic arm and deep-sea grab bucket fitted with a camera drops deep into the water. After about an hour, it reaches 2,000 meters down: Nothing can be seen, not plants or fish. The monitor displays only black basalt and sandy sediments.
If you are patient, however, the world will surprise you. Occasionally, the camera finds red coral, white sponges and a few unknown creatures.
Due to the darkness, low temperatures and high pressure, life is severely restricted on the deep sea floor. “It’s hard to believe that anything could survive down there at 2 to 4 degrees centigrade,” opines Lu Shihui, assistant to the chief scientist overseeing the mission.
Compared to the colorful vistas scuba divers might see, veteran oceanic explorer Lu prefers solid rocky ribbons of taupe, red, and yellow, which indicate the possibility of deposits for which they hunt: polymetallic sulfide—a mineral rich with metals such as copper, zinc, and silver and a potential resource that some countries have already explored.
The Chinese team consists of more than 60 members, who study the middle ridges of the southwestern Indian Ocean at 2,000 to 4,000 meters in depth.
In 2011, China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association (COMRA) signed a contract with the International Seabed Authority (ISA) giving it exclusive rights to explore polymetallic sulfide in 10,000 square kilometers of the international seabed for 15 years. As contracted, the Chinese party should complete primary exploration in 2017, and fulfill its obligation to return 50 percent of the contracted zone by 2019 and 75 percent by 2029, after which time the remaining 2,500 square kilometers of the seabed will remain its exclusive mining area.
All of this will be worthwhile if large deposits of polymetallic sulfide are located. After hours of efforts by the scientists, the bucket finally retrieves some “soft mud” from the sea floor.
The fine mud has a granular feel. The team looks at it under a microscope and notices that most of the granules are spherical shells of planktonic foraminifera, a species of plankton found throughout the ocean and its floors. After they die, their calcium carbonate shells gradually fall to the sea floor, creating heaps and becoming one of the major sediments in the sea.
As explained by Deng Xianming, chief scientist of the mission, the team uses appropriate devices to measure the chemical elements, especially metals like copper, iron, and zinc in the sediment to estimate the possibility of polymetallic sulfide deposits.
Life on the Sea
Adventure creeps near as the surface of the sea melts from Cambridge blue to deep navy.
“I thought of myself as a sea lover,” writes crew member Chang Dingyue in his journal. “After days and nights on the real ocean, I realized that I just loved the beach.”
For many novices, the first challenge is seasickness. In some cases, it feels like a never-ending earthquake or roller coaster ride. Xiangyanghong 10, with a tonnage of 4,500, is still an insignificant speck on the vast sea.
Most people start to overcome it in 72 hours, but the entire process of acclimating to the rocking environment is a war of willpower. Everyone develops his or her own methods to overcome seasickness. Some play cards or chess, work out in the gym or purposely inflict pain to shift focus, and others choose to stand on the deck and enjoy the sea breeze as they see every up and down of the waves. This strategy is inspired by the belief that the driver never suffers from carsickness.
As conditions deteriorate, the worst is still yet to come. The daily toll of such an expedition is understandably high, so the crew works in shifts around the clock.
In the transitional season between summer and autumn, more frequent typhoons make exploration even more dangerous.
When the machine reaches between 2,000 and 3,000 meters deep, each attempt to raise or lower it is a fierce fight. Once, the device almost got permanently stuck in a precipitous cliff. The external protective layer of rigid titanium alloy was severely warped, leading to an equipment failure and lost signals. The operation was canceled, and the device was hauled up to be repaired on deck.
Along with the suffering, the sea also creates beautiful memories. As night falls, a brilliant blanket of stars shatters the darkness, creating a moment of happiness beyond description. Few feel loneliness thanks to the company of crewmates. Each time it stops, the ship is quickly surrounded by hovering birds. The crew feeds them, because they’re considered a symbol of peace.
Since earning a doctorate in animal behavior, Briton John Mackinnon has acquired many titles: biodiversity expert, chief technical advisor of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) wetland program, professor, photographer, writer, UN official and adviser to China’s policy makers.
But the common thread linking all of Mackinnon’s wide-ranging efforts is his dedicated love of nature.
Wild Man
When he was a teenager in a boarding school, Mackinnon survived a fire that burned his school to the ground at night. Because of that traumatic experience, he has a hard time sleeping comfortably in the evening and can be startled by the slightest sound. But he has also developed sharp hearing, which always helps him notice wild animals faster than others. “I am not sure if the fire is directly related to my ex- ceptional hearing,” says Mackinnon. “Actually, I was the first one to notice the fire. So maybe my hearing was always sensitive. But I am glad that now I have much more exciting things in my life than a fire.”
Mackinnon isn’t joking: He has been chased by elephants many times. He has been attacked by bears and orangutans. He has met tigers and leopards. His little finger was bitten off by a wild hog. He credits his continued survival to training in the
Combined Cadet Force at age 12: “It was army training in school. I took the survival course and learned how to live in the mountains and find water.”
The risks don’t dissuade his passion for nature, and even reinforce it. “I like being alone in the forest,” he explains. “When you are alone and slightly frightened, your ears grow and your senses stretch. You can detect animals from further and further away until you really become part of the forest yourself.”
Mackinnon has loved wild animals from a young age. As a child, he preferred wild animals such as lizards, snakes and eagles over tame dogs and cats. At age 18, he followed Jane Goodall to research chimpanzees in Africa. That experience also helped develop his field survival skills and make him more comfortable in nature. He even learned some photography techniques from Goodall’s husband, a photographer for National Geographic.
Mackinnon first came to China in 1986 to participate in an international protection program for the panda, the first such campaign in the nation. “At that time, bamboo was dying and giant pandas were starving,” recalls Mackinnon. “I was sent to China by WWF to help plan what to do and how. We ultimately produced a report called Master Plan to Save the Giant Panda
and Its Habitat. I was the lead author.” Mackinnon has focused much of his attention on Asia from as far back as 1968. In the early 1990s, while working on a project jointly sponsored by WWF and IUCN in a village on the border of Vietnam and Laos, Mackinnon discovered a species of ox that had never been documented. The ox was eventually named “Saola.”
“It was amazing to me that at the end of the 20th Century, a completely new large mammal could be discovered,” he recalls. “It was incredibly exciting.” The news stunned nature conservation circles at the time.
In fact, over the last century, only ten new mammals have been discovered in the world, of which three were related to Mackinnon’s efforts.
Bird Man
Until he published Guide Book for Birds inchina in 2000, Mackinnon’s work for the Biodiversity Working Group of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) and as a senior adviser for Chinese authorities hadn’t made him known to the Chinese public. The first of its kind in China, the book has made bird watching in vogue in the country and become a Bible for Chinese bird watchers, giving Mackinnon thousands of devoted fans.
Mackinnon has always been modest about his contributions to China’s nature conservation, but he is happy to take full credit for the book. “I was particularly struck by the fact that there was not a good bird guide for China,” he explains. “It is very difficult for young people in China to get into birding. I am not an expert on birds. I probably was not the best person to write the book. But I was there and I was willing to write it.” His efforts were rewarded. “Bird watching interest in China is growing,” he continues. “I am happy about that. People now care about wildlife. It is good for China.”
Chinese bird watchers have nicknamed Mackinnon “bird man” because he can mimic many calls and can easily find the birds in a tree or forest. “Birds give you a sort of reflection of what is going on in the natural world,” says Mackinnon. “Birds are the best indicators of the health of a habitat.”
“Last week, my team and I went to a place where the stream looked clear, but there were no birds,” he continues. “I declared to my team that there was something wrong with the stream. We went around a few corners and soon found a gold mine. People use
chemicals to extract the gold from the ore. And that river is toxic and stained.”
According to Mackinnon, during the industrial revolution, British miners would attach a bird in a cage to their belt: “When they saw the bird turn upside down, they would run out of the mine, because birds are more sensitive to poisonous gas than humans.”
Reserve Watcher
When Mackinnon first arrived in China, the nation had about 100 nature reserves. “China has created several hundred more since then,” notes Mackinnon. “We made a database of the first 300 nature reserves.” Despite the great development, he thinks management still needs to be improved. “To this day, nobody really knows exactly how many nature reserves there are or where they all are. One problem is the lack of a single reporting or responsible authority. No agency in China has the full responsibility for biodiversity conservation.”
After trekking so many mountains and rivers and seeing amazingly rich wildlife in China, Mackinnon has fallen in love with the country. He has visited every large and medium-sized protected area in the country and can expound on almost all of China’s wild resources by rote.
“There are twice as many species of plant in China as in all of North America and about three times as many plants as in Europe,” he says. “China has 40 percent of the world’s pheasant species and about 60 percent of the pheasant family. China has about 70 percent of the world’s rose finches…”
His love for China inspires even greater concern for its environmental problems. He argues that while it is still developing its economy, China needs to consider its environmental carrying capacity.
He used an example: In Sichuan Province, bees are disappearing. Orchard workers now have to climb ladders up apple trees with a brush to fertilize the flowers. “The situation is ridiculous,” he says. “The services that nature provides are free. And now we have to employ people to do the work of bees. Bees are dying globally. Something is very wrong with our ecosystem. Only when the wildlife thrives can we feel safe that our ecosystem is healthy.”
Over the past 40 years as a senior adviser for Chinese authorities like the the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the State Forestry Administration, Mackinnon has spoken to Chinese officials and villagers alike.
“I have stayed in China for a long time, and I do want to change things,” he explains. “China is the most dynamic country in the world. It is changing faster and making a greater impact on the planet than any other country. If I can make some tiny improvements in the way China does things, the ripple effects will be massive.”