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- The scaly-foot snail or Sea Pangolin is the first marine species to be assessed as officially endangered due to the potential threat of deep sea mining.
- The scaly foot snail is found at three hydrothermal vents in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. The three vents include Longqi vent field, Kairei vent field and the Solitaire vent
- The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed it as ‘Endangered’ in the Red List.
- Seabed mining is the process which involves extracting submerged minerals and resources from the sea floor, either by dredging sand or lifting material in any other manner.
- The International Seabed Authority, an autonomous international organization established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is currently formulating guidelines on how to conduct sea-bed mining.
- There are growing concerns among environmentalists that seabed mining would harm marine organisms, disrupt marine ecosystem, thereby impact the rich biodiversity of oceans
