Source: New York Times
Author: Tony Haymet
NEARLY 36 years ago, our understanding of life was changed forever when scientists towing a remote vehicle through the depths photographed a cluster of clams on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean far beyond the reach of sunlight, where no life was supposed to be. The clams were nourished by geothermal ocean vents instead of energy from the sun.
Source: PLoS one
Authors: Robert J. Miller, John Hocevar, Robert P. Stone, Dmitry V. Fedorov
Continental margins are dynamic, heterogeneous settings that can include canyons, seamounts, and banks. Two of the largest canyons in the world, Zhemchug and Pribilof, cut into the edge of the continental shelf in the southeastern Bering Sea. Here currents and upwelling interact to produce a highly productive area, termed the Green Belt, that supports an abundance of fishes and squids as well as birds and marine mammals.
The DSCC together with representatives from the National Resources Defense Council, the Living Oceans Society, the David Suzuki Foundation and Oceana attended the 10th Multilateral Meeting on the Management of High Seas Fisheries in the North Pacific Ocean. The negotiations concluded on March 4 with the countries involved — the US, Canada, Japan, Russia, China, Korea as well as Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) — concluding an agreement, yet to be formally adopted, for a new North Pacific fisheries management organization.
Continue reading New North Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization in the Works
A meeting of the States involved in the negotiation of a new North West Pacific Regional Fisheries Agreement (17 – 18 October in Tokyo) has concluded with a commitment to meet the 31 December 2008 UN General Assembly deadline for protection of deep-sea ecosystems on the high seas. The meeting was the fifth since negotiations began in 2006 and the States participating in the negotiations are Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. Japanese, Russian and South Korean vessels have engaged in bottom fishing on seamounts along the Emperor Seamount chain in the Northwest Pacific over the past several years.
Continue reading North West Pacific States make progress in protecting high seas
Responding to the Spanish Fisheries Ministry’s position statement on a proposed UN General Assembly moratorium on high seas bottom trawling, the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) welcomed Spain’s recognition that bottom trawling is a destructive fishing practice which needs to be addressed, but rejected their proposal for doing so as a stalling tactic.
Continue reading Response to Spanish Position On High Seas Bottom Trawling Moratorium
Addressing national leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly Sebastian Anefal, the Federated States of Micronesia’s Foreign Minister reiterated the call made on 23 September by Palau’s Vice President, Sandra Pierantozzi for a moratorium on deep sea bottom trawling.
Continue reading Micronesia and Palau call for moratorium on deep sea bottom trawling
