Delving the deep: We know virtually nothing about deep water ecology and trawling these depths risks destroying countless future resources
Giles Crosse explores the issues.
According to Greenpeace, ‘Every four seconds, marine life in an area of ocean floor the size of ten football fields is wiped out by high seas bottom trawlers.’
The problem, says the organisation, is that ‘the deep sea is believed to contain the largest pool of undiscovered life on earth, supporting between half a million and 100 million species, according to scientists. The danger is that this untold diversity will be destroyed before we even have a chance to study it.’
“Huge bottom trawl nets are dragged along the seabed sweeping up all the fish in their path, while at the same time smashing ancient corals, ripping up sponges and destroying the other marine life which makes up these fragile deep sea communities that have taken thousands of years to develop.” said Greenpeace Oceans campaigner Sari Tolvanen.
Activists are taking steps to protect such deep sea ecosystems. In 2009, Greenpeace placed 140 granite rocks, each weighing between 0.5 and 3 tonnes, in the Lilla Middelgrund in the Swedish Kattegat.
The idea was to make it impossible for trawlers to run their nets across the ocean floor.
More recently, certain global communities have taken further steps to protect such areas. In New Zealand, the Ministry of Fisheries says it has some of the toughest global regulations on bottom trawling.
‘Almost a third of New Zealand’s huge exclusive economic zone is completely closed to bottom trawling and over 90 per cent of New Zealand waters has never been bottom trawled,’ details the country’s Fisheries website.
“Bottom trawling is the main fishing method for catching orange roughy. It takes place within New Zealand’s comprehensive fisheries management system,” said Ministry of Fisheries Deputy Chief Executive Gavin Lockwood.
“New Zealand bottom trawling is very closely managed, we know which fishing vessels are bottom trawling, we use satellite monitoring so we know exactly where they are fishing and we require detailed catch reports so we know how much is being caught” he said.
The Ministry of Fisheries says it is protecting 1.2 million square kilometres of unfished seafloor, to ensure that natural biodiversity and ecosystems are preserved.
Lost in the Deep
Deepwater marine ecosystems may have a huge role to play in global resource management, climate change, and potentially crucial future medicines or bioresources. But none of this will happen if the habitats are destroyed.
‘The vast muddy expanses of the abyssal plains occupy about 60 per cent of the Earth’s surface and are important in global carbon cycling,’ explains the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC). It’s an alliance of over 60 organisations worldwide
‘Essentially, deep sea communities are coupled to surface production. Global change could alter the functioning of these ecosystems and the way carbon is cycled in the ocean.’
Changes in deep sea carbon cycling are not considered in most climate models, an oversight that DSCC believes should be corrected.
Better monitoring of these environments will provide further insight, and a more meaningful understanding of just how these areas coexist with the planet and how they do it.
It’s not just New Zealand that’s taking steps. According to DSCC, ‘protection for over 23,000 square miles of complex deepwater corals located off the coasts of the Carolinas, Georgia, and eastern Florida was advanced by a unanimous vote of the members of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, a federal government advisory body.’ This took place as recently as September 2009.
The measure, it appears, ‘will protect specific areas of sensitive habitat, designated as Coral Habitat Areas of Particular Concern, inhabited by coral species living in waters ranging from 1,200 feet to 2,300 feet deep.’
‘The South Atlantic region holds what is believed to be the largest contiguous distribution of deepwater corals in the world, including the common Lophelia coral, largely responsible for reef mound construction in these cold water areas.’
“This landmark decision is a win for the oceans and those in the southeast who rely on it for their livelihoods,” said Dave Allison, senior campaign director at Oceana. “The crushing of these ancient coral reefs would be a serious loss to the ocean ecosystem and could threaten the survival of golden crab and wreckfish fishermen that catch other species on these deep reefs.”
‘Deep sea corals off the southeast coast include hundreds of pinnacles up to 500 feet tall,’ say Oceana scientists. ‘These corals are inhabited by a variety of marine species, including sponges with unusual chemistry now being tested to develop drugs for the treatment of cancer and heart disease.’
‘Coral samples allow scientists to chemically measure environmental changes such as ocean temperatures and productivity, often over thousands of years. The reefs may act as barometers for impacts associated with ocean acidification and climate changes.’
Law making
On 4 December 2009, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which requires high seas fishing nations to conduct impact assessments, to determine the potential impacts of deep sea bottom fishing on the seabed and adopt and implement regulations.
‘The 2009 resolution reaffirms and strengthens a landmark resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2006,’ says DSCC.
“Deep sea corals, like their shallow water counterparts, are under threat from the acidification of the world’s oceans due to the increased absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere,” said the DSCC’s Matthew Gianni.
“This is all the more reason to prohibit the senseless and entirely unnecessary destruction of deep sea corals by bottom trawling, so as to allow these ecosystems the maximum capacity possible to survive the deleterious impacts of global climate change.”
To truly understand the value of these areas, we need more effective ways to properly study them. On April 5, 2010, NASA, the U.S. Navy and university researchers successfully demonstrated the first robotic underwater vehicle to be powered entirely by natural, renewable, ocean thermal energy.
‘The Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangrian Observer Thermal RECharging (SOLO-TREC) autonomous underwater vehicle uses a novel thermal recharging engine powered by the natural temperature differences found at different ocean depths,’ says NASA.
‘Scalable for use on most robotic oceanographic vehicles, this technology breakthrough could usher in a new generation of autonomous underwater vehicles capable of virtually indefinite ocean monitoring for climate and marine animal studies, exploration and surveillance.’
This could be just what’s needed to see not just the harm we’re doing to the ocean floor, but what exciting biodiversity is down there. Back in 2005, a report was released by the Marine Conservation Biology Institute (MCBI) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
It too suggested deep sea life holds major promise for the treatment of human illnesses. “Scientific interest is increasingly turning to the potential medical uses of organisms found in the deep sea, much of which lies in international waters,” said Sara Maxwell, conservation scientist at MCBI and principal author of the report.
“These organisms have developed unique adaptations that enable them to survive the cold, dark and highly pressurised environment of the deep sea. Their novel biology offers a wealth of opportunities for pharmaceutical and medical research.”
That was a few years ago now, and it does appear the international community is reacting to attempt to preserve these riches for future generations. Given the planet’s profound ability to offer us cures and resources to maintain our own existence, perhaps we owe it nothing less than such basic respect.
What are your views? Not sure? Read the resources below for more information. Add your comment below. We welcome your thoughts and proposals. Not a Planetary Citizen? Sign up to Our Future Planet today!
Diverse coral and sponge-based community off Adak Island, Alaska
PIC cred: ©Alberto Lindner, courtesy NMFS
Resources:
MEDICINES FROM THE DEEP The Importance of Protecting the High Seas from Bottom Trawling
GreenPeace: CITES – Last Chance for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
DSCC: Review of the implementation of the provisions of UN GA resolution 61/105 related to the management of high seas bottom fisheries
GreenPeace: While stocks last...Greenpeace recommendations to ensure they do.
GreenPeace: Whaling on Trial – Japan’s Whale Meat scandal and the trial of the Toyko two
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