Preventing biodiversity loss in the deep sea — A critique of compliance by high seas fishing nations and RFMOs with global environmental commitments

30 October, 2020

Authors: Susanna Fuller, Duncan Currie, Matthew Gianni, Lyn Goldsworthy, Cassandra Rigby, Kathryn Schleit, Colin Simpfendorfer, Les Watling, Barry Weeber.

16 years have passed since the UNGA first called for States and RFMOs “urgently to adopt … conservation and management measures, in accordance with international law, to address the impact of destructive fishing practices.

This report by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) reviews the progress made since 2016 and makes recommendations on what more should be done to ensure that both individual high-seas fishing nations and regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) fully implement the actions called for in UNGA Resolutions 61/105, 64/72, 66/68 and 71/123. It is the latest in a series produced by the DSCC that have been published in advance of the formal reviews conducted by the UNGA.

Although the UNGA review workshop scheduled for August 2020 was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the information in this report is relevant to RFMO Commission and Scientific Committee meetings taking place over the next 12 months and will help inform the UNGA workshop when it is rescheduled. All documents are available only in English.

South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation 8th Scientific Committee Meeting Documents – 3 to 8 Oct, 2020

1 October, 2020

The SC8 meeting, hosted by New Zealand, is being held remotely from 3 to 8 October 2020. The Chairperson of the SC is Dr Jim Ianelli (USA) and the Vice Chairperson is Mr Niels Hintzen (EU). All official meeting documents and other relevant information can be found on the SPRFMO SC8 webpage.

Presentations to Deep Water Working Group

Presentations to the Scientific Committee

DSCC Interventions

DSCC Submission to Fisheries New Zealand: Review of sustainability measures for 1 October 2019

23 July, 2019

The DSCC calls on the New Zealand Government to protect all seamounts in New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and to stop issuing high seas permits to bottom trawl vessels, which almost exclusively target seamounts and similar deep-sea features when they fish in international waters of the South Pacific and Tasman Sea regulated by the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO).

Available in English.

Megabenthic Assemblage Structure on Three New Zealand Seamounts: Implications for Seafloor Massive Sulfide Mining

16 March, 2015

Authors: RE Boschen, AA Rowden, MR Clark, SJ Barton… – Mar Ecol Prog Ser, 2015

Seamounts are recognized for their bio-logical importance and, more recently, mineralwealth. However, in most cases the biological information required to assess the risk to seamount assemblages from mining is lacking. This study uses towed video footage and environmental data to investigate the patterns of mega faunal distribution, assemblage structure and association with environmental variables, both within and amongst 3 seamounts along the Kermadec volcanic arc in the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone.

Available in English.

 

 

A Moratorium Is Fundamental

1 April, 2005

The deep sea is one of the last frontiers on the planet – the 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 had ever been imagined.

Available in English, French, German, Spanish.