Report of the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction Deep Sea Meeting 2019, 7–9 May 2019, Rome, Italy

Report of the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction Deep Sea Meeting 2019, 7–9 May 2019, Rome, Italy
Author: FAO
Publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Total Pages: 70
Release: 2020-06-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9251323216

The Common Oceans ABNJ Deep Seas Project is funded by the Global Environment Fund and implemented by FAO and the UN Environment Programme. The partnership brings together a broad range of partners, including regional fisheries bodies responsible for the management of deep-sea fisheries, fishing industry partners, and international organizations to achieve sustainable fisheries management and biodiversity conservation of deep-sea living resources in the ABNJ. To showcase existing knowledge, practices and innovative research for sustainable deep-sea fisheries management and biodiversity conservation in the ABNJ, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the SponGES Project consortium, organized a meeting – the ABNJ Deep Sea Meeting 2019 – that took place on 7-9 May 2019, at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy. Over 40 participants, including representatives from partner organizations and other stakeholders from multiple sectors within the ABNJ, attended the three-day meeting. While significant progress has been made in the management of deep-sea fisheries and in the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems, the ABNJ still faces threats from climate change, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Building on the achievements of the Common Oceans ABNJ Deep Sea Projects and the SponGES Project, the participants were invited to give presentations on key topics and discuss emerging issues concerning ABNJ governance and deep-sea research, monitoring and management.

Deep-sea Biodiversity

Deep-sea Biodiversity
Author: Michael A. Rex
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2010
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780674036079

Rex and Etter present the first synthesis of patterns and causes of biodiversity in organisms that dwell in the vast sediment ecosystem of ocean floor. They offer a new understanding of marine biodiversity that will be of general interest to ecologists and is crucial to responsible exploitation of natural resources at the deep-sea floor.

Technical measures and environmental risk assessments for deep-sea sponge conservation

Technical measures and environmental risk assessments for deep-sea sponge conservation
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2020-05-01
Genre: Science
ISBN:

SponGES is a research and innovation project funded under the H2020 Blue Growth initiative. It aims at “Improving the preservation and sustainable exploitation of Atlantic marine ecosystems” and at developing an integrated ecosystem-based approach to preserve and sustainably use deep-sea sponge ecosystems of the North Atlantic. Reducing the impacts of deep-sea bottom fishing in the high seas on these ecosystems is an important element of an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management. States and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) have implemented a variety of measures to avoid and mitigate impacts of deep-sea bottom fishing on sponges, and have established methods for ecological risk assessment. Specific information to inform these risk assessments is often lacking but SponGES spurred unprecedented research on deep sea sponges in the North Atlantic, resulting in improved knowledge and understanding of sponge distribution, ecological function, impacts of human activities and climate change, role in the deep sea ecosystem, and their potential economic contributions through biotechnological components. This publication serves as a comprehensive review of existing governance mechanisms to protect sponge ecosystem function in the deep sea. It also presents appropriate elements to be included in an ecological risk assessment of anthropogenic stressors, and contributes to producing a strategy to incorporate sponge ground functions into management frameworks.

Deep-Sea Mining

Deep-Sea Mining
Author: Rahul Sharma
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 535
Release: 2017-03-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319525573

This comprehensive book contains contributions from specialists who provide a complete status update along with outstanding issues encompassing different topics related to deep-sea mining. Interest in exploration and exploitation of deep-sea minerals is seeing a revival due to diminishing grades and increasing costs of processing of terrestrial minerals as well as availability of several strategic metals in seabed mineral resources; it therefore becomes imperative to take stock of various issues related to deep-sea mining. The authors are experienced scientists and engineers from around the globe developing advanced technologies for mining and metallurgical extraction as well as performing deep sea exploration for several decades. They invite readers to learn about the resource potential of different deep-sea minerals, design considerations and development of mining systems, and the potential environmental impacts of mining in international waters.

Marine Animal Forests

Marine Animal Forests
Author: Sergio Rossi
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017-08-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9783319210117

During the last decades there has been an increasing evidence of drastic changes in marine ecosystems due to human-induced impacts, especially on benthic ecosystems. The so called “animal forests” are currently showing a dramatic loss of biomass and biodiversity all over the world. These communities are dominated by sessile suspension feeder organisms (such as sponges, corals, gorgonians, bivalves, etc.) that generate three-dimensional structures, similar to the trees in the terrestrial forest. The animal forest provide several ecosystem services such as food, protection and nursery to the associated fauna, playing an important role in the local hydrodynamic and biogeochemical cycles near the sea floor and acting also as carbon sinks. The present book focus its attention on these three dimensional animal structures including, for the first time, all the different types of animal forests of the world in a single volume.

Deep-sea Sponge Grounds

Deep-sea Sponge Grounds
Author: Mariana M. Hogg
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010
Genre: Marine biodiversity conservation
ISBN: 9789280730814

Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs): Coral and sponge VMEs in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters – Distribution and threats

Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs): Coral and sponge VMEs in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters – Distribution and threats
Author: Buhl-Mortensen, Lene
Publisher: Nordic Council of Ministers
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2019-04-17
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9289360860

This report presents results from the NovasArc project that has collated data on the distribution of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters. Eleven VMEs were identified, based on management goals for coral and sponge communities. Many of the vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in the study area has a wide distribution. Soft and hard bottom sponge aggregations, hard bottom gorgonians, sublittoral sea pen communities, and cauliflower corals are predicted to cover > 20% of the study area shallower than 1000 meters. Of the anthropogenic activities in the study area bottom trawling represents the main threat to the VMEs. The compilation of trawling activity in the study area shows that fisheries mainly occurs shallower than 1000 meters and that 50 to 60% of the seafloor is not targeted. However, 30% of the seafloor has experienced intermediate to very high fishing effort. In general, the VMEs shows a larger overlap with fishing when the risk analysis is based on areas with an optimal habitat suitability. Using this conservative threshold to model the distribution of VMEs the results indicate that most VMEs have experienced an intermediate to high level of fishing in less than 40% of their distribution area in the whole study area.