DEEP-SEA ECOSYSTEMS FACING ONGOING DESTRUCTION

Deep-sea ecosystems facing ongoing destruction, a s global community commits to biodiversity protection in Cali, Colombia.  The latest CBD Conference of the Parties (COP16) in Cali, Colombia, marks twenty years since the adoption of a recommendation to protect seamounts and vulnerable marine ecosystems from destructive practices at COP7. At COP16 the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) is urging Parties to fully and finally implement the protections needed to safeguard seamounts and the biodiversity they support from destructive practices. 

 In the twenty years since the recommendation of COP7, multiple international commitments have affirmed and added to that initial call to action. While progress has been made, the ambition of 2004 remains unfulfilled, and the scale and scope of human pressures on the deep-sea have multiplied. Key among these pressures are continued bottom trawling of seamounts, and the threat of deep-sea mining.

Sian Owen, Executive Director of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition said:

“The deep sea is home to unparalleled biodiversity, including millions of species that we are only just starting to discover and understand. However, the deep sea is experiencing an alarming rate of decline due to a range of human-induced pressures.

“Within the negotiations during the first week of COP16, some States have fought to keep reference to the deep sea in the text. As the Conference concludes this week in Cali we hope to see more States recognise the urgency of honouring the commitments they made twenty years ago to protect the biodiversity in the beating blue heart of our planet – the deep sea.”

At COP16, many initiatives to fund and protect coastal coral reefs have been launch and discussed, including the Global Fund for Coral Reefs UN Fund – an implementation initiative of the Global Biodiversity Framework aiming to raise an additional USD $150 million to mobilise significant investment capital by the upcoming UN Ocean Conference in June 2025.

While attention at the CBD is focused on the protection and restoration of coastal coral reefs, the incredible biodiversity hosted by ecosystems of the deep sea – including long-lived, habitat building cold water corals – is being overlooked and at the same time, irreversibly damaged.

It is understood that in early October 2024, a New Zealand vessel trawled up multiple species of corals, including deep-sea, reef-building corals, exceeding the weight limits for coral bycatch set by South Pacific Regional Fisheries Organisation, the body responsible for the sustainable management of the area. The total coral bycatch is believed to be 37kg, with those brought up including black corals which are amongst the oldest living organisms on Earth, with one species found in the Pacific reaching ages of 4,265 years old.

Deep-sea corals can be incredibly fragile, and while many may be small in size, they are incredibly slow growing and could take centuries to recover from the impact. Corals form complex habitats in both deep and shallow waters, and destruction following trawling will not only directly impact the individual organisms that are brought up by the vessel, but also associated species.

Bronwen Golder, Global Seamounts Campaign Lead, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition said:

“Fisheries companies operating in international waters continue to show the world the vital need to protect seamounts and vulnerable marine ecosystems from bottom trawling and other destructive practices as they drag precious, long-lived coral from the deep sea and destroy ancient habitats”.

 “After two decades of international commitments, it is time for the global community to come together and urge New Zealand, and other bottom trawling countries, to fully and finally protect these precious havens of biodiversity – the lifelines of our ocean.”

Image: A deep-sea coral garden in Madison-Swanson Marine Reserve off the west coast of Florida ©NOAA