The study, published in Current Biology, comes as the Pacific remains the global "ground zero" for the proposed industry.

Cook Islands environmental groups have slammed the recent merger of an American minerals investment company with Odyssey, calling it "an industrial colonial takeover of our ocean".

There are many great places to go for amazing views—Fiji, Bora Bora, Hawaii, the Caribbean—but what’s great about the Cook Islands is that it’s not as well-known, so the crowds that you find elsewhere ...

From left to right, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown, Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration of the Cook Islands Tukaka Ama, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and Chinese Minister ...