If mining keeps going unchecked, the deep sea will be carved into a scarred landscape, benthic communities that have evolved for millions of years will disappear, fisheries will collapse, and the carbon sink that relies on those organisms will be compromised, noise and sediment plumes will kill spawning fish and benthic invertebrates, and the release of trapped methane could spike local warming, turning the ocean from a quiet, productive environment into a disturbed, low‑productivity zone that will affect surface ecosystems and human livelihoods.

Sure, the ocean has a memory, but that doesn't make it a safe playground. Adaptation is slow, costly, and often incomplete. The marks you leave will tilt the ledger in a direction that may never balance itself out. If the cost of that tilt is higher than the profit from mining, then the ledger will still show a net loss. Keep that in mind.