DAWG Meeting 1: The biodiversity and vulnerability of deep-sea corals on seamounts beyond areas of national jurisdiction

The DAWG held its first meeting in February 2006. The meeting was hosted by NIWA, Wellington which also hosts the CenSeam secretariat. The first activity of the DAWG is to prepare a report on the biodiversity and vulnerability of deep-sea corals on seamounts beyond areas of national jurisdiction. This will provide clear scientific information to inform decision making related to the conservation of biodiversity and the management of seamount resources on the high seas. The report is due to be published by CBD, UNESCO/IOC and UNEP in August 2006.

Background: The impacts of human activities on the high seas, and in particular the effects of deepwater fishing on seamounts, have become the focus of considerable discussion in recent years. There are numerous studies, papers and publications in circulation on this issue, but these have tended to be broad in their scope, covering a wide range of issues and habitats. In this work, we are taking a specific habitat, namely seamounts, and a restricted group of fauna, namely corals, to provide some more detailed information on the likely vulnerability to deepwater trawling.

Key objectives:

  1. To determine the geographical and depth distribution of seamounts in high seas regions
  2. To relate the distribution of coral species, in particular reef building species, to seamount features
  3. To relate the seamount-coral distribution to the known or likely distribution of deepwater fishing activities on the high seas
  4. To assess the vulnerability of seamount coral habitats to impact by deepwater fishing activities
The workshop was funded by the Netherlands’ Department of Nature, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and their involvement is gratefully acknowledged.
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