 |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
DSCC members will be attending or monitoring the following meetings.
Contact us
for more information.
2008
FAO Technical Consultation on International Guidelines for
the Management of Deep-Sea Fisheries in the High Seas, 25 - 29 August, Rome
NAFO
Annual Meeting, 22 - 26 September, Vigo, Spain
IUCN World Conservation Congress,
October 5-14, Barcelona, Spain
SPRFMO, 6th negotiating session, 6 - 10 October,
Canberra, Australia
Northwest Pacific negotiating session, 14 - 18 October,
Tokyo
CCAMLR (Commission
and Scientific Committee), 27 October -7 November, Hobart, Australia
NEAFC Annual
Meeting, 10-14 November
London (Dumping) Convention, November, London, UK
Complete calendar
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
The Periphylla periphylla is a deep
water jellyfish, normally living
at depths of 200-2500 m.
© Erling Svensen
View Deep Sea Creature gallery
Gorgonian corals with sponges,
Aleutian Islands. Oceana's
Pacific Deep Sea Corals website.
The catch is hauled aboard the NZ deep sea trawler Corsair in international waters in the Tasman sea. The red fish is Orange Roughy, the rest is mostly bycatch to be discarded.
© Greenpeace / Grace
|
The ocean depths were once considered only the setting for treasures and monster squid, but scientists have discovered treasures far more precious. The dark depths of our oceans are home to cold-water corals and sponge fields that shelter strange and mysterious creatures found nowhere else on Earth. But this extraordinarily rich and fragile deep sea life is under threat from the most destructive fishing practice — deep sea bottom trawling.
Today, unregulated bottom trawl fishing boats can reach submerged mountains called seamounts, bulldozing their way across the ocean floor and destroying all life in their path at depths of up to two kilometres. Species may become extinct before scientists even have a chance to identify them.
Over 50 organisations world-wide are now working together under the umbrella of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition to protect cold-water corals and vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems. Together with the scientific community, we are calling for a short-term moratorium on deep-sea bottom trawling on the high seas. This reprieve would provide immediate protection to the mostly undiscovered biodiversity of the deep seas while legally-binding conservation and management regimes can be developed — before it is too late.
The deep sea (1) is one of the last frontiers on the planet — home to breathtaking landscapes of mountains, hills, ridges and troughs that very few of us will ever see. Until approximately 30 years ago, it was assumed that there was little life in the cold and dark waters of the deep sea, which covers more than half the world's surface. The advent of manned and unmanned submersible technology, however, has turned that belief on its head. The world deep beneath the oceans' surface is far more diverse than was ever imagined.
Today, scientists and the fishing industry know that the deep sea is teeming with life, most of which remains undiscovered. Indeed, scientists have speculated that as many as 10 million species may inhabit the deep sea: biodiversity comparable to the world's richest tropical rainforests. They are slowly discovering ecosystems which are extraordinary in nature, often hosting species found nowhere else on the planet.
For the fishing industry also, the unreachable is now within reach. Advances in bottom trawl technology means that it is now possible to fish the deep sea's rugged floors and canyons. More powerful engines, bigger nets, more precise mapping, and advanced navigational and fish-finding electronics have enabled fishing vessels to drag fishing gear across the ocean bottom as much as two kilometers (1.2 miles) deep. As a result, well-capitalized fleets from a handful of wealthier nations (2) are today destroying some of the planet's last, most ecologically-rich frontiers, in search of a few commercial fish and crustacean species.
1,452 scientists from 69 countries have signed a statement (3) expressing profound concern "that human activities, particularly bottom trawling, are causing unprecedented damage to the deep-sea coral and sponge communities on continental plateaus and slopes, and on seamounts and mid-ocean ridges." The statement calls on governments and the United Nations to adopt a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling.
Scientists from the Australia, Canada and the UK have also sent letters to their governments calling for action (4).
Never before have such a number of scientists united around a specific marine environmental issue. The statement represents an unprecedented call to action by experts in marine sciences and conservation biology and a turning point in the mounting global campaign to halt deep-sea bottom trawling on the high seas.
Underlying the statements made by the scientists is a still-emerging body of science. Scientists are only just beginning to understand the diversity, significance and vulnerability of deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystems, and it is estimated that an incredibly small number — less than one percent — of the world's seamounts have been explored. One of the driving forces behind the scientists' letter, in fact, was mounting concern that entire deep-sea ecosystems will be destroyed before they can be subject to scientific study. More time, more science and more knowledge is needed.
The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) is joining forces with this scientific community to call for a short-term moratorium on deep-sea bottom trawling on the high seas. This reprieve would provide immediate protection to the extraordinarily rich, vulnerable and mostly undiscovered biodiversity of the deep seas while legally-binding conservation and management regimes can be developed — before it is too late.
Notes:
(1) The deep sea starts beyond the shallower continental shelf and includes the slope and rise of the continental margin, deep-ocean basins and plains, trenches, midocean ridge systems, smaller ridge systems, seamounts, plateaus and other underwater features rising from the deep ocean floor. This area constitutes over 90 percent of the ocean bottom and mostly lies beyond 200 nautical miles from shore.
(2) Virtually all bottom trawling activity in the high seas is being conducted by 11 of the world's wealthier nations: Denmark/Faroe Islands, Estonia, Iceland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia and Spain. The European Union (EU), in particular, is the epicenter of deep sea bottom trawling. In 2001, EU countries (including the newly admitted Baltic states) took approximately 60 percent of the high seas bottom trawl catch. The same year, Spain accounted for approximately two-thirds of the reported EU catch and 40 percent of the reported global catch in high seas bottom trawl fisheries.
Gianni, M. High Seas Bottom Trawl Fisheries and their Impacts on the Biodiversity of Vulnerable Deep-sea Ecosystems: Options for International Action. IUCN/NRDC/WWF/CI. 2004
Download the executive summary, (870 KB) pdf
Full report available from IUCN website
(3) The 'statement of concern' was initially signed by 1,136 scientists and released in February 2004 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting and the Seventh Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Marine Conservation Biology Institute subsequently (MCBI) re-opened the scientists' statement for signature in 2005, in response to requests from scientists wishing to join the moratorium call.
(4) Scientists' Letters to their governments:
- Open letter from Australian scientists to Prime Minister, John Howard, 4 November 2005 (pdf)
- Open letter signed by 109 international marine scientists, conservationists and biodiversity experts attending the International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC1) in Geelong, Australia, to Australian Environment and Fisheries Minsters, Senators Ian Campbell and Ian MacDonald, 26 Oct 2005 (pdf)
- Open letter from United Kingdom scientists to Ben Bradshaw MP, UK Minister for Nature Conservation and Fisheries, 13 Oct 2005 (pdf)
- Open letter from Canadian scientists to Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada and Geoff Regan, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 17 Oct 2005 (pdf)
|
|
|