del Mar Sacau Cuadrado

“Deep Sea species: Toward a sustainable fishery”.
19 February 2013
Mª del Mar Sacau Cuadrado- Instituto Español de Oceanografía
Programa de Pesquerías Lejanas
Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo
ESPAÑA

Identification of VMEs in the high seas
- Since 2004, discussions on VME have been taking place at the United Nations
General Assembly (UNGA). This process culminated in 2006 with the adoption of
the UNGA Resolution 61/105.
- Spain has undertaken an ambitious and costly program of scientific mapping of
the seabed in different parts of the oceans:
ECOVUL-ARPA Project (2005-2008) 19,000 km 2
ATLANTIS Project (2007-2010) 59,000 km 2
RAP-Sur Project (2008-2010) 15,800 km 2
UNGA resolution 66/68 (2011): Recognized the
utility of the seabed mapping programmes.

CANADA
RUSSIA
UK
SPAIN
NEREIDA project: Institutions
Geological Survey of Canada. Natural resources Canada
Canadian Hydrographic service. Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science.
Secretaría General del Mar (SGM). Ministerio de Medio
Ambiente y Medio Rural Marino
Instituto Español de Oceanografía

R/V Miguel Oliver
NEREIDA project: Objectives
GENERAL OBJECTIVE
Implementation of the Ecosystem Approach to the Fisheries Management
in order to identify and protect Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs)
paying special attention to the cold water corals and sponges.
MULTIDISCIPLINARY
SURVEYS
2009 & 2010
Cartography
Benthic ecology
Hydrography
R/V Hudson

6 MULTIDISCIPLINARY SURVEYS
368 Box Corer
105 dredges
414 CTD
2 VISUAL SURVEYS
2143 photos
116 hr (video)
NEREIDA: Study area & surveys
RV Miguel Oliver - SGM (Spain)
RV Hudson - DFO (Canada)
NAFO
Regulatory
Area
Total surveyed area: ~69,000 km 2

415 stations
NEREIDA project: Hydrography
CTD

Multibeam echosounder
Parametric sub bottom
profiler (TOPAS)
NEREIDA project: Cartography
Multibeam prospected area: 68,950 km2 TOPAS lines: 28,113 km
R/V Miguel Oliver (SGM)

NEREIDA project: Geology
13 Geological features
Summary of the geological context for the interpretation of the biological samples

Rock dredge
Hard bottoms
NEREIDA project: Benthic studies
Box corer
Soft bottoms
Video and
photographic
transects

NEREIDA project: Rock dredge
105 samples

NEREIDA project: Box Corer
368 samples

NEREIDA project: Video & Photographic Transects
Hudson vessel
CCGS Canada
Sponge Grounds, dominated by large, structureforming
species of Geodia. High structural
complexity & diversity.

NEREIDA project: Photos
2143 photos and 116 hours of video
Hexactinellida
Hippasteria phrygiana
Hudson vessel CCGS Canada

NAFO Management measures
Area Closures & Protection Zones
2007
Four seamounts closed to
bottom fishing
2008
A Coral Protection Zone
declared in Division 3O
2009
Two more seamounts closed
2010
Eleven areas were closed to
bottom fishing to protect
significant concentration of
corals and sponges In total 18 areas in NAFO RA have been
closed to bottom fishing

NEREIDA: Management measures
11 areas identified by groundfish surveys
(UE, Spain and Canada)
Protection of corals and sponges
CURRENT SITUATION
11 closed areas
~ 8,500 km 2
These areas can be
REFINED in light of the
information collected
through NEREIDA.
Review by the
Fisheries Commission
in
2014

Big amount of NEREIDA samples Establish a priority of study on the Closed Areas
Priority
+
-
NEREIDA project: Areas by priority
Table summarizing the amount of samples
Area by Priority using NAFO
CEM numbering and
nomenclature
Box Core Rock
Dredge
Video/
Still
CTD (excl. DFO
data)
Other
6 – Sackville Spur 5 (9) 1 (2) 8 6 (12) MB 100%
2 – Flemish Pass/Eastern
Canyon
21 (33) 14 (8) 3 (4) 28 (35) MB 98%
4 – Eastern Flemish Cap 4 (6) (2) 2 (2) 4 (8) MB 100%
3 – Beothuk Knoll 2 (3) (1) 1 2 (3) MB 100%
5 – Northeast Flemish Cap 3 (7) 4 (3) (1) 7 (8) MB 100%
1 – Tail of the Bank 2 (4) (1) 0 2 (6) MB 100%
8 – Northern Flemish Cap 2 (2) 2 0 2 (2) MB 100%
9 – Northern Flemish Cap 2 (2) 1 (1) 0 3 (3) MB 100%
10 – Northwest Flemish Cap 2 (1) 2 0 3 (1) MB 100%
11 – Northwest Flemish Cap 1 (1) 1 0 2 (1) MB 100%
7 – Northern Flemish Cap 1 0 0 1 MB 25%
3O 0 0 0 0 0

NEREIDA project: Review of the closures
2
6
5
Closed Area 6 at Sackville Spur
Results from analysis were presented
to the NAFO Working Group on the
Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries
Management (WGEAFM). They
supported this closure in its current
form.
Closed Area 5 Flemish Cap
Northeast Prong
Dive results suggested that the lower
bathymetric boundary should be
extended into deeper water to the
2500 m contour.
Closed Area 2 (being studied)

NEREIDA project: Future activities
Review of the current VME closed areas by the
Fisheries Commission in 2014
- New video analysis from the Flemish Cap closures. This analysis will bring
new information related to the assessment of biodiversity with respect to VME
structure forming species.
- Complete analysis of Rock dredge samples against recently produced list of
VME indicator species.
- Complete analysis of Box corer samples. These samples provide a fully
quantitative description of the soft bottom habitat in the NRA. Only 40 (of the
368 samples) have been processed.
All these analysis are critical for the delivery of the review of NAFO fisheries
closures since it is the only source of benthic community data available which
covers all of the closures in the fishing footprint and adjacent areas.
The extent of work on these topics depends on FUNDING

“Deep Sea species:
Toward a sustainable fishery.”
19 February 2013
Thanks for your attention
mar.sacau@vi.ieo.es
Mª del Mar Sacau Cuadrado
Instituto Español de Oceanografía
Programa de Pesquerías Lejanas
Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo
ESPAÑA