sponge

Disappointing rise in quotas for deep sea species announced today

29 November, 2012

It has been announced that quotas for two deep-sea species – roundnose grenadier and black scabbardfish – targeted by French and Spanish trawlers fishing off Scotland and Ireland are to be increased. The deep-sea trawl fisheries in the area take upwards of 100 species as bycatch according to the French marine research institute IFREMER. Increasing the quotas for these two species translates to increased fishing pressure on many more deep-sea species.

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Structure-Forming Corals and Sponges and Their Use as Fish Habitat in Bering Sea Submarine Canyons

21 March, 2012

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.

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A deep-sea, white coral reef has been discovered in the Alboran sea (Western Mediterranean) during Oceana Ranger’s 2011 expedition.

22 July, 2011

Deep-sea corals area among the most vulnerable ecosystems and the United Nations has called for their protection. Most of these interesting communities have disappeared from large extensions of European waters and the Mediterranean due to bottom trawling, changes in water temperature or natural catastrophic events.

Continue reading A deep-sea, white coral reef has been discovered in the Alboran sea (Western Mediterranean) during Oceana Ranger’s 2011 expedition.

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UN renews call for urgent action to protect largest biosphere on the Planet

12 June, 2011

Welcomed by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), the resolution reinforces the conclusions of a report presented by the DSCC at a special UNGA meeting in September. The meeting was held to review the actions taken by high seas fishing nations to implement resolutions adopted by the UNGA in 2006 and 2009 to protect deep-sea life from the harmful effects of bottom trawling and other methods of deep-sea fishing.

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UN get a Move on! – 61/105 or Bust!

18 September, 2009

18 September 2009 As the opening round this year of the United Nations (UN) negotiations for the sustainable fisheries resolution took place in New York from Sept. 15-18, the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) organized a side event to remind negotiators about the vulnerability of the deep oceans. 2009 is an important year for deep ocean protection as it marks the review and assessment of how States and regional fisheries management organizations have implemented UN General Assembly resolution 61/105 to protect deep-sea biodiversity on the high seas from the harmful impacts of fishing.

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Protect the Kakadu’s of the deep

20 September, 2006

Ninety per cent of the world’s oceans are unexplored and only a tiny 0.0001% of the biology of the deep seafloor has been investigated, but the limited studies to date of these cold, deep, dark places find many wonderful surprises. Amazing new species, colourful luminescent life, cold water coral reefs 8,500 years old – 35m high, 40km long and 3km wide. Fantastical and beautiful.

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Scientists call on Australia to support the moratorium

4 November, 2005

58 Australian marine scientists have sent a letter to the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard urging him to “take advantage of an historic opportunity to secure significant protection for the world’s deep-ocean ecosystems on the high seas” by promoting the negotiation of a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling at this year’s United Nations General Assembly. (1) A week earlier, over 100 international marine scientists, conservationists and biodiversity experts attending the International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC1) sent a letter to Australian Ministers for the Environment and Fisheries, Senators Ian Campbell and Ian MacDonald, urging them to stop deep sea destruction by supporting a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling. (2) The letter was also sent to Heads of State attending the Pacific Islands Forum and delegates to the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which met last week in Hobart.

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Such a hard case to make?

7 June, 2005

It isn’t, on the face of it, a hard case to make. In fact, it would seem obvious: dragging bottom trawls, complete with giant steel doors and rollers, across the sea bed is bound to be immensely damaging to the deep sea habitat and the species that live there. As far back as 1376, fishermen from the Thames Estuary petitioned king Edward III of England to ban primitive trawl nets that they feared could cause “great damage of the common’s realm and the destruction of the fisheries.”

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Slow-growing deep-water sponges at risk from bottom trawling

9 May, 2005

Around the world, large deep-water sponge fields are hotspots of biodiversity. Their three-dimensional structure provides highly varied habitats for a wide range of species. But deep-water sponges are being swept up as by-catch, crushed or scarred by bottom trawlers or clogged by the clouds of sediment churned up by their heavy fishing gear.

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