MPA Symposium - Zoological Society of London

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MARINE PROTECTED AREAS ON THE HIGH SEAS A TWO-DAY INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM HELD AT ZSL ON 3 AND 4 FEBRUARY 2011 POSTER ABSTRACTS bottom fisheries on the SWIOR has been undertaken by industry and for reasons of commercial sensitivity little information is available publicly on fishing activities or stock status. Delays in the initiation of a regional fisheries management organisation, the South Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA), have led to the voluntary designation of protected areas by the fishing industry in the region. However, there is little understanding of what is driving the production of these ecosystems, what the status is of targeted and non-targeted fish populations and whether voluntary management measures have been effective in protecting vulnerable marine ecosystems. We describe the development of a new project aimed at furnishing fisheries and environmental managers in the southern Indian Ocean with data on the ecosystems of the SWIOR. The project, funded by the GEF and implemented by UNDP / IUCN, has undertaken a cruise to investigate the pelagic biology of the SWIOR. Data were collected on biological oceanography, pelagic communities and aquatic predators (birds). Results indicate that seamount fisheries may be driven by trapping of migrating mesopelagic zooplankton and micronekton communities. Furthermore, important new data on the distribution of deep-water pelagic communities, including both new records for the region and new species of organisms have been collected. In 2011 a further cruise will be undertaken to survey and sample benthic ecosystems of the seamounts both within and outside of voluntary benthic protected areas. The project is the result of international collaboration between scientists, intergovernmental organisations and the fishing industry. The implications of the project for high seas fisheries management, MPA designation within the region and capacity building are discussed. Preliminary proposal of marine areas in the High Seas of the SW Atlantic to be considered for protection Portela, J. 1 , Acosta, J. 2 , Cristobo, J. 4 , Parra, S. 3 , Muñoz, A. 5 , del Río, J.L. 1 , Tel, E. 1 and Patrocinio, T. 1 1 Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Spain, 2 Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Sede Central de Madrid, Spain, 3 Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de A Coruña, Spain, 4 Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de Gijón, Spain, 5 Grupo Multidisciplinar de Cartografiado (TRAGSATEC-SGM), Spain. Email: julio.portela@vi.ieo.es This study examines ongoing concerns about the effects of bottom trawling on benthic Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VME) on the High Seas of the Southwest Atlantic, and explores the proposal of marine areas to be considered for protection in the zone. Currently, this region is the only significant area for High Seas fisheries not covered by a Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO). Information gathered during 13 multidisciplinary research cruises conducted between late 2007 and early 2010, led to a preliminary identification of areas where the presence of vulnerable organisms was considered significant. Great densities and biomass of octocorals, sponges, colony scleractinians (Bathelia candida) and large hydrocorals (Errina spp., Cheiloporidion pulvinatum, Sporadopora sp. and Stylaster densicaulis) were found at intermediate depths (401–1000 m), whereas shallow waters (
MARINE PROTECTED AREAS ON THE HIGH SEAS A TWO-DAY INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM HELD AT ZSL ON 3 AND 4 FEBRUARY 2011 POSTER ABSTRACTS Seamount classification system to aid MPA design in the High Seas Clark, M.R., Watling, L., Rowden, A.A., Guinotte, J.M., Smith, C.R. and Rogers, A.D. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand. Email: m.clark@niwa.co.nz Seamounts are prominent features of the world’s seafloor, and are the target of deep-sea commercial fisheries, and of interest for minerals exploitation. They host vulnerable benthic communities, which can be rapidly and severely impacted by human activities. There have been recent calls to establish networks of marine protected areas on the High Seas, including seamounts. However, there is little biological information on the benthic communities on seamounts and this has limited the ability of scientists to inform managers about seamounts, that should be protected as part of a network. In this poster we present a seamount classification based on ‘biologically meaningful’ physical variables for which global-scale data are available. The approach involves the use of a general biogeographic classification for the bathyal depth zone (near-surface to 3500 m), and then uses four key environmental variables (overlying export production, summit depth, oxygen levels, and seamount proximity) to group seamounts with similar characteristics. This procedure is done in a simple hierarchical manner which results in 194 seamount classes throughout the world’s oceans. The method was compared against a multivariate approach, and ground-truthed against octocoral data for the North Atlantic. We believe that it provides biologically realistic groupings, in a transparent process that can be used to either directly select, or aid the selection of, seamounts to be protected. INDEEP – A new International Network for Scientific Investigations of Deep-Sea Ecosystems Baker, M.C. 1 , Consalvey, M. 2 , Ramirez-Llodra, E. 3 , Menot, L 4 , Narayanaswamy, B.E. 5 , Tyler, P. 1 , Smith, C. 6 , Clark, M 2 , Carney, R. 7 and Sibuet, M. 8 1 University of Southampton, 2 National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand, 3 Institut de Ciències del Mar, CSIC, Spain, 4 Ifremer-Brest, France, 5 Scottish Association for Marine Science, UK, 6 University of Hawaii, USA, 7 Louisiana State University, USA, 8 Institut Océanographique de Paris, France. Email: Mb11@noc.soton.ac.uk Following in the footsteps of the International Census of Marine Life programme (2000-2010), INDEEP is a newly-funded programme (Fondation Total) with a focus to determine the global biodiversity and functioning of deep-sea ecosystems in order to achieve a synthesis of sound knowledge that can be used in the formation of sustainable management strategies, bridging the gap between science and policy. During the initial 3 year phase, INDEEP will play a major role in bringing together efforts from across the globe and from a wide range of expertise in relation to investigation of the deep-sea ecosystems under 5 major themes: 1) Taxonomy and evolution, 2) Global biodiversity and biogeography, 3) Population connectivity, 4) Ecosystem functioning and 5) Anthropogenic impact and social policy. INDEEP will lead to the development of new large-scale scientific proposals involving teams and infrastructure from different nations and will provide the necessary framework for coordination of such large-scale efforts. It is the intention of INDEEP to capture the momentum of collaboration generated during the past 10 years of the Census to ensure it continues and grows in the long-term future and includes future generations of deep-sea scientists. For more information visit www.indeep-project.org or contact Dr Maria Baker (mb11@noc.soton.ac.uk) and Dr Mireille Consalvey (m.consalvey@niwa.co.nz), INDEEP Project Managers. For further information, please contact Scientific Publications and Meetings, ZSL, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4RY, UK. anne.braae@zsl.org
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MPA Symposium - Zoological Society of London

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