PROTECTING VULNERABLE MARINE ECOSYSTEMS IN DEEP-SEA WATERS

Protecting vulnerable marine ecosystems in deep-sea waters. ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) releases advice on areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems are known to occur or are likely to occur in European deep-sea fishing areas.

To protect vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs), such as deep-sea corals and deep-sea sponges, bottom contact fishing at depths of over 400 metres conducted by European Union (EU) vessels within EU waters will be confined to historically fished areas. This “fishing footprint” is based on bottom contact fishing locations (static and mobile gears) between 2009 and 2011.

Within this existing fishing footprint, the European Commission will list, and annually review, areas where VMEs are known or are likely to occur, which may lead to area closures  (between 400 m and 800 m depth) to protect the VMEs found there.

These EU measures, along with the EU Habitats Directive, the OSPAR MPA Network, Common Fisheries Policy, and various national regulations, will contribute to achieving the objectives of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Sustainable Fisheries Resolutions , which provides the policy framework for the protection of VMEs.

Request

To meet these regulatory requirements, the European Commission requested ICES to provide the 2009–2011 fishing footprint and advise on the locations within these areas where VMEs are known to occur or are likely to occur.

A stakeholder workshop was followed by an online Workshop on EU regulatory area options for VME protection to produce the technical evidence base to develop a set of regulatory area options using available ICES data.

The workshops developed interactive maps which show the fishing locations of both static and mobile bottom gear alongside the location of known and likely occurrence of VMEs. This data is presented within C-squares.

The majority of EU waters between 400 and 800 metres depth are found either in the Celtic Seas Ecoregion, or the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Coast Ecoregion. Approximately 90% of this area is currently fished. ​A C-square grid system with a resolution of 0.05° longitude by 0.05° latitude (about 15 km² at 60°N latitude) was used in this advice request, a practical scale to collate, explore, and assess data relating to fishing activities in the marine environment. Data from ICES VME Database was used to identify C-squares that contain VMEs or are likely to contain VMEs. The VME Database contains regularly updated and quality-controlled data submitted by ICES Member Countries.

Scenarios

Considering the International Guidelines for the Management of Deep-sea Fisheries in the High Seas (Deep-sea Fisheries Guidelines), developed by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to provide definitions of relevant terms, examples of characteristics that assist with identification, a more expansive list of vulnerable species groups, communities and habitats as well as topographic features known to support VMEs, ICES has developed advice that offers two Scenarios to management, each with two options, which place emphasis on different aspects of the UN resolutions.

Scenario 1 prioritises protection of VME, irrespective of the fishing activity, while Scenario 2 prioritizes protection of VME but incorporates a threshold for the level of permissible fishing activity.

Under Scenario 1, option 2 is the most precautionary of the two options, as it includes areas where VMEs are both known and likely to occur, by incorporating the VME elements into the identification of VMEs. Under Scenario 2, assessment of fishing activity is limited to mobile bottom contacting gear only.

While most of the EU waters between 400 and 800 meters depth fall into either the Celtic Seas Ecoregion, or the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Coast Ecoregion, the selection of Scenario/optiondoes not need be the same for each ecoregion, given that each ecoregion has a different quantity and quality of ICES VME and fishing effort data, as well as different presence of VME elements.

ICES recommends that when new VME data is supplied it should be incorporated into this advisory product and reflected in future advice on fishing footprints and C-squares where VMEs occur or are likely to occur.

Read the full text of ICES advice on list of areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems are known to occur or are likely to occur in existing deep-sea fishing areas.

Source: https://www.ices.dk/news-and-events/news-archive/news/Pages/EUvme.aspx