Bermuda’s marine ecosystem could compete with Australia’s Great Barrier Reef as a world-renowned visitor attraction, according to an environmental group.But Matt Rand of the Pew Charitable Trust said a strict embargo on commercial activity in Island waters would have to be enforced before Bermuda gained an international reputation as a top destination for marine enthusiasts.The US-based trust is backing calls by the Bermuda Blue Halo project to turn much of the ocean within a 200-mile radius of the Island into a “no-take” zone.Environmentalists look to be on a collision course with developers who claim that natural minerals on the floor of Bermuda’s marine exclusive economic zone could be mined, generating billions of dollars of revenue.Earlier this week, former Premier and ocean explorer David Saul claimed that the Blue Halo project would be “economic suicide”.“The hundreds of thousands of thousands of square miles of land below the ocean surrounding Bermuda could be utilised to pay off billions of dollars of national debt and also have money left over to enrich future generations,” Dr Saul, a shareholder in a local subsea mineral prospecting company that has already begun to study a relatively small portion of the seabed, said.Yesterday Mr Rand poured cold water on that claim, saying that it was not known what mineral deposits — if any — would be found thousands of feet under the ocean.He further pointed out that it was not known what impact ocean dredging might have on Bermuda’s marine environment.“I think Bermuda needs to make a decision based on what is best for all Bermuda citizens, and a decision that protects Bermuda’s waters through the Blue Halo project does that,” Mr Rand said.“Tourism is a major driver of Bermuda’s economy and if you proclaim it as a marine reserve, that has great potential to increase tourism activity,” Mr Rand said.“Tourists travel to places they believe are doing the right thing and a protected marine ecosystem has the potential to open up a whole new market for Bermuda as a tourism attraction. Marine tourism has taken off globally and Bermuda is now one of the few places where you still have a healthy marine environment.”Mr Rand claimed that deep sea mining was still in its infancy and technology had not yet been developed to make it commercially viable.He said there were “major negative environmental ramifications” that could result from dredging — including pushing sediment onto the shoreline — and also questioned if the seabed contained valuable minerals.“Everybody wants to believe that there’s a quick and easy answer to the economic situation and that we might find gold in our backyard, but that is highly unlikely,” he said.“The last geothermal activity was 30,000 years ago and so I think it is highly unrealistic to think that Bermuda has some sort of major asset.“At the moment deep sea mining is highly unrealistic and I think that it is going to be maybe another 50 years before we get the new technology that will allow us to revisit it.”Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute chairman Jack Ward also expressed caution.“I’m neither for or against mining or the Blue Halo, what I am in support of is informed decision making and at the moment neither side is in a position to do that.“Dr Saul said there could be billions of dollars worth of deposits down there and maybe that’s right, but we just don’t know. But even if that’s the case, it then raises the question of whether or not we can get it out cleanly.“Then again, with the economic challenges that we are facing, is it time to fully close the door? Deep sea mining is completely unproven but there could be resources out there of value — there are signs of promise. But if we make Bermuda marine reserve, no one is going to go looking because there is no economic incentive to explore.”