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2008
Ocean and the Law of the Sea, 17-21 Nov, the UN
Sustainable Fisheries, 10-14 Nov, the UN
NEAFC Annual Meeting, 10-14 Nov
London (Dumping) Convention, Nov, London, UK
2009
ICES symposium, 27-30 Apr, Azores, Portugal |
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Scientific Developments in 2004-2005
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Related Links
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News articles
• Deep-sea sponges harbor toxins that potentially can act as powerful anti-cancer drugs, 26 September 2005, Medical Science News
Tours & Expeditions
• Science Tour 2005
• Greenpeace/SAMS science expedition, North Atlantic, May 2005
DSCC News
• Study Shows Shocking Decline In Deep-Sea Bottom Trawled Species, DSCC news, 6 January 2006
• Scientists Speak Out: Action Urgently Needed in the Deep Seas, DSCC news, 20 October 2005
• Oceans unveil how little is known, DSCC news, 24 August 2005
DSCC Features
• The Lophelia reefs of the Minch, by Andrew J. Davies and J. Murray Roberts of the Scottish Association for Marine Science, DSCC feature, 14 October 2005
• Why we shouldn’t
eat the dinosaurs of the deep, an interview with Dr. Sylvia Earle, DSCC feature, 27 September 2005
View the Quicktime movie of the interview
• Slow-growing deep-water sponges at risk from bottom trawling 9 May 2005, DSCC feature
• Potential cancer cures from the deep sea threatened by high seas bottom trawling, 2 May 2004, DSCC feature
• Christmas tree coral discovery 10 March 2005 by Dr. Lance E. Morgan, Marine Conservation Biology Institute, DSCC feature
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New deep sea discoveries are being made all the time. Several new species of black corals were discovered in 2004,
including this coral, named after the Christmas tree which it resembles. The coral can grow up to 2m tall and 4.5m wide and
was discovered in US waters off Los Angeles.
© Tom Laidig
Sponge ridge at the Davidson Seamount off the coast of California, USA.
Deep sea life holds major promise for the treatment of human illnesses.
One compound isolated from a deep-water sponge, which lives at depths of 990 to 1,980 feet (300 to 600 meters),
shows promise for use as an anti-inflammatory agent to treat arthritis and skin irritations and
is also being investigated as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease and to prevent colon cancer.
Image courtesy of NOAA and MBARI.
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International Council on the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)
In 2005, ICES prepared a report calling for "a complete overhaul of deep-sea fisheries." According to a 17 October ICES press release about the report's launch (1), "scientists will recommend that all existing deep-sea fisheries should be cutback to low levels until they can demonstrate that they are sustainable. They will advise zero catch of depleted deep-sea sharks, and they will recommend that no new fisheries for deep-sea fish should be allowed until it can be demonstrated that they are capable of being sustainable." According to David Griffith, General Secretary of ICES, "Deep-sea fish such as the orange roughy or the roundnose grenadier are long-lived, slow reproducing fish that can withstand only low levels of fishing pressure. All our evidence indicates that the current fishing pressure on these stocks is much too high. We are particularly concerned about deep-sea sharks such as the Portuguese dogfish and leafscale gulper shark which are now heavily depleted." (2)
The report from the ICES Working Group on Deep Water Ecology (8-11 March 2005) in relation to the North East Altantic Fisheries Commission area noted that information currently available on the distribution of seabed habitats such as cold-water corals is at best patchy. In the case of other significant habitat types such as sponge fields, it is virtually non-existent. "The Working Group stresses the danger of relying on such incomplete datasets since decisions to close areas to bottom trawling may inadvertently divert trawling to similarly sensitive habitats that are currently unmapped."
FAO Fisheries Department Report: The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2004, March 2005
On the issue of the governance and management of deep-water fisheries, the Report concludes:
"The rapid development of deep-sea fisheries has, in many cases, outpaced the acquisition of the knowledge needed for successful resource management. The population biology of many species is not yet fully understood and, despite the widespread nature of these fisheries, little information exists about the impact of fishing on bycatch species. In the case of benthic effects, the information from the few studies that have been done indicates cause for concern - as in the case of cold-water corals."
In addition, the Report asserts that "... deep-water fisheries face other problems that are specific to their industry. These include the low sustainability of long-lived fish resources, discarded bycatch, and the impact of fishing operations on benthos habitats - especially those providing nursery habitats for commercially exploited species.
Moreover, because most deepwater fishing occurs on the high seas, an additional concern has been the ability (or inability) of international legal regimes and instruments to provide a satisfactory framework for the effective management of these fisheries' resources." (3)
UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, December 2004
In a report focusing on the impacts of fishing in the Northeast Atlantic (4), the prestigious UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) concluded that drastic and urgent action is needed to save the marine environment from further destruction by fishing, including the ruinous effects of deep-sea bottom trawlers. It made a number of specific recommendations on deep-sea bottom trawling, including a call for the UK government to press the European Commission to ban bottom trawling for deep-water species in EU waters. It also called for better international controls on high seas bottom trawling.
Notes:
(1) Overhaul deep-sea fisheries, sharks in trouble, good and bad news for other fish stocks, ICES press release, 17 October 2005 (pdf)
(2) Scientists Speak Out: Action Urgently Needed in the Deep Seas, DSCC news, 20 October 2005, 17 October 2005
(3) From the chapter entitled: Governance and Management of Deep-water Fisheries "The Issue".
Available online.
(4) Turning the Tide — Addressing the Impact of Fisheries on the Marine Environment. Report by the UK Royal Commission on
Environmental Pollution.
More information:
Visit the publications
section of this site for links to further scientific reports.
Coral Gardens in the Dark Depths, Scientists seek to learn more about these abundant, fragile, and now-threatened communities by Lauren S. Mullineaux, Senior Scientist and Susan W. Mills, Research Associate, Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Latest reports warn urgent action needed to face oceans crisis, DSCC news, 7 December 2004
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