Deep Sea Sponge Ecosystems Knowledge Based Approach Towards Sustainable Management And Conservation

Deep-sea Sponge Ecosystems: Knowledge-based Approach Towards Sustainable Management and Conservation

Report of the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction Deep Sea Meeting 2019, 7–9 May 2019, Rome, Italy

The Common Oceans ABNJ Deep Seas Project is funded by the Global Environment Fund and implemented by FAO and the UN Environment Programme. The partnership brings together a broad range of partners, including regional fisheries bodies responsible for the management of deep-sea fisheries, fishing industry partners, and international organizations to achieve sustainable fisheries management and biodiversity conservation of deep-sea living resources in the ABNJ. To showcase existing knowledge, practices and innovative research for sustainable deep-sea fisheries management and biodiversity conservation in the ABNJ, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and the SponGES Project consortium, organized a meeting – the ABNJ Deep Sea Meeting 2019 – that took place on 7-9 May 2019, at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy. Over 40 participants, including representatives from partner organizations and other stakeholders from multiple sectors within the ABNJ, attended the three-day meeting. While significant progress has been made in the management of deep-sea fisheries and in the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems, the ABNJ still faces threats from climate change, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Building on the achievements of the Common Oceans ABNJ Deep Sea Projects and the SponGES Project, the participants were invited to give presentations on key topics and discuss emerging issues concerning ABNJ governance and deep-sea research, monitoring and management.

Technical measures and environmental risk assessments for deep-sea sponge conservation

SponGES is a research and innovation project funded under the H2020 Blue Growth initiative. It aims at “Improving the preservation and sustainable exploitation of Atlantic marine ecosystems” and at developing an integrated ecosystem-based approach to preserve and sustainably use deep-sea sponge ecosystems of the North Atlantic. Reducing the impacts of deep-sea bottom fishing in the high seas on these ecosystems is an important element of an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management. States and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) have implemented a variety of measures to avoid and mitigate impacts of deep-sea bottom fishing on sponges, and have established methods for ecological risk assessment. Specific information to inform these risk assessments is often lacking but SponGES spurred unprecedented research on deep sea sponges in the North Atlantic, resulting in improved knowledge and understanding of sponge distribution, ecological function, impacts of human activities and climate change, role in the deep sea ecosystem, and their potential economic contributions through biotechnological components. This publication serves as a comprehensive review of existing governance mechanisms to protect sponge ecosystem function in the deep sea. It also presents appropriate elements to be included in an ecological risk assessment of anthropogenic stressors, and contributes to producing a strategy to incorporate sponge ground functions into management frameworks.