Seamount fisheries: do they have a future?

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Seamount fisheries do they have a future?
Seamount Biogeosciences Network SEAMOUNTS '09
Exploration, Biogeosciences and Fisheries
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Seamount Fisheries
knowledge sparse key research difficult pre-explo
itation baselines few remote open ocean
locations high seas - no effective jurisdiction
or monitoring
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Large, stunningly profitable fish
catches false expectations that such returns are
sustainable long lived organisms evolved
adapted to boom and bust feeding conditions
delicately-balanced seamounts trophic webs
Seamount Fisheries Main Issues
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Seamounts Trophic Signature?
Pitcher, T.J. and Bulman, C. (2007) Raiding the
Larder a Quantitative Evaluation Framework and
Trophic Signature for Seamount Food Webs. Pages
282-295 (Chapter 14) in Pitcher, T.J., Morato,
T., Hart, P.J.B., Clark, M.R., Haggan, N. and
Santos, R.S. (eds) Seamounts Ecology, Fisheries
and Conservation. Fish and Aquatic Resources
Series 12, Blackwell, Oxford, UK. 527pp.
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Large, stunningly profitable fish
catches false expectations that such returns are
sustainable long lived organisms evolved
adapted to boom and bust feeding conditions
delicately-balanced seamounts trophic
webs Evaluated as highly vulnerable to fishing
Seamount Fisheries Main Issues
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Seamount Fish Life Histories
AGG Seamount Aggregating S Seamount
Associated NS Others
Morato, T., Cheung, W.W.L. and Pitcher, T.J.
(2006) Vulnerability of seamount fish to fishing
fuzzy analysis of life history attributes.
Journal of Fish Biology 68(1) 209-221
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Seamount Fish Vulnerability to Fishing
AGG Seamount Aggregating S Seamount
Associated NS Others
Morato, T., Cheung, W.W.L. and Pitcher, T.J.
(2006) Vulnerability of seamount fish to fishing
fuzzy analysis of life history attributes.
Journal of Fish Biology 68(1) 209-221 Cheung,
W.W.L., Pitcher, T.J. and Pauly, D. (2005) A
Fuzzy Logic Expert System to Estimate Intrinsic
Extinction Vulnerabilities of Marine Fishes to
Fishing. Biological Conservation 124 97-111.
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Large, stunningly profitable fish
catches false expectations that such returns are
sustainable long lived organisms evolved
adapted to boom and bust feeding conditions
delicately-balanced seamounts trophic
webs Evaluated as highly vulnerable to
fishing and part of a hard-to-measure transient
community of visitors
Seamount Fisheries Main Issues
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Seamounts Visitors
Morato, T., Varkey, D.A., Damaso, C., Machete,
M., Santos, M., Prieto, R., Santos, R.S. and
Pitcher, T.J. (2008) Evidence of a seamount
effect on aggregating visitors. Marine Ecology
Progress Series 357 23-32.
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Large, stunningly profitable fish
catches false expectations that such returns are
sustainable long lived organisms evolved
adapted to boom and bust feeding conditions
delicately-balanced seamounts trophic webs And
a part of a hard-to-measure transient community
of visitors Evaluated as highly vulnerable to
fishing CONCLUDE cannot sustain heavy local
exploitation
Seamount Fisheries Main Issues
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Whats The Catch ?
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Changes in Vulnerability to Fishing Global catch
Cheung, W.W.L., Watson R., Morato, T., Pitcher,
T.J. and Pauly, D. (2007) Intrinsic vulnerability
in the global fish catch. Marine Ecology Progress
Series 333 1-12.
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late 1900s Collapse and serial depletion
of many continental shelf groundfish stocks
From 1960s Advances in gear technology (esp.
trawls) enabled fishing deeper encouraged
fisheries to expand into deeper water, esp.
seamounts. small, steep, rough seamount flanks

Seamount Fisheries Development
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20 tonne trawl catch of
roundnose grenadiers Russian trawler Rhez,
1977 (Photo Vladimir Vinnechenko)
Seamount Fisheries Development
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Catch Time Series for some Seamounts
Clark, M.R., Vinnichenko, V.I., Gordon, J.D.M.,
Beck-Bulat, G.Z., Kukharev, N.N. and Kakora, A.F.
(2007) Large scale distant water trawl fisheries
on seamounts. Chapter 17, pages 361399 in
Pitcher, T.J., Morato, T., Hart, P.J.B., Clark,
M.R., Haggan, N. Santos, R.S. (eds). Seamounts
ecology, fisheries, and conservation. Blackwell
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Series 12
Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. 527 pp.
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Catch Time Series for some Seamounts
Clark, M.R., Vinnichenko, V.I., Gordon, J.D.M.,
Beck-Bulat, G.Z., Kukharev, N.N. and Kakora, A.F.
(2007) Large scale distant water trawl fisheries
on seamounts. Chapter 17, pages 361399 in
Pitcher, T.J., Morato, T., Hart, P.J.B., Clark,
M.R., Haggan, N. Santos, R.S. (eds). Seamounts
ecology, fisheries, and conservation. Blackwell
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Series 12
Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. 527 pp.
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Time series of world marine bottom
fisheries catches 1950 to 2001 by depth
strata.
Fishing Deeper
Depth strata (m) Catches tonnes log transformed
Updated FAO stats 1950-2006 (Release March
2008)
Morato, T., Watson, R., Pitcher, T.J. and Pauly,
D. (2006) Fishing down the deep. Fish and
Fisheries 7(1) 23-33.
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Fished Seamount Chains
Clark, M.R., Vinnichenko, V.I., Gordon, J.D.M.,
Beck-Bulat, G.Z., Kukharev, N.N. and Kakora, A.F.
(2007) Large scale distant water trawl fisheries
on seamounts. Chapter 17, pages 361399 in
Pitcher, T.J., Morato, T., Hart, P.J.B., Clark,
M.R., Haggan, N. Santos, R.S. (eds). Seamounts
ecology, fisheries, and conservation. Blackwell
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Series 12
Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. 527 pp.
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Relative Catches
max 70,000 t
Clark, M.R., Vinnichenko, V.I., Gordon, J.D.M.,
Beck-Bulat, G.Z., Kukharev, N.N. and Kakora, A.F.
(2007) Large scale distant water trawl fisheries
on seamounts. Chapter 17, pages 361399 in
Pitcher, T.J., Morato, T., Hart, P.J.B., Clark,
M.R., Haggan, N. Santos, R.S. (eds). Seamounts
ecology, fisheries, and conservation. Blackwell
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Series 12
Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. 527 pp.
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13 primary seamount fish species 1.2
million tonnes per year (peak in mid 1990s) 0.4
million tonnes (currently) 29 secondary seamount
species 3 million tonnes per year
(increasing) 3.4 million tonnes TOTAL 5 of
reported world catch global spatial
algorithm catches within 20 km of known seamount
positions based on reported catches species and
geographical ranges Watson et al. (2004, 2007)
Global seamount fishery catches
Watson, R, Kitchingman, A., Gelchu, A. and Pauly,
D. (2004) Mapping global fisheries sharpening
our focus. Fish and Fisheries 5 168-177.
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primary seamount species
by decade
Global seamount fishery catch rates
spatial catch allocation algorithm 30-minute
cells cells include identified seamounts
Watson, R., Kitchingman, A. and Cheung, W. (2007)
Catches from World Seamount Fisheries. Pages
400412 in Seamounts Ecology, Fisheries and
Conservation. T.J. Pitcher, T. Morato, P.J.B.
Hart, M.R. Clark, N. Haggan and R.S. Santos
(eds), Fish and Aquatic Resources Series,
Blackwell, Oxford, UK. 527pp.
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Global fish catch

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What are the Impacts ?
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1 Physical damage from otter boards
and ground chains 2 Sediment suspension can
choke filter feeders 3 Elimination of delicate
sessile animals clams, corals, seapens,
tunicates, serpulids from food web 4 Reduction
of cover provided by 3 5 Bycatch of juveniles,
non-target species, and charismatic animals
removed from food web and life history 6
Discards from 5 favour scavengers, high-turnover
invaders, mud dwellers ecosystem shift
Impacts of Trawling
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Giant gorgonid corals (bubblegum coral)
trawled from the top of a New Zealand seamount
orange roughy deepwater trawl fishery
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NZ Seamounts
Compare and Contrast Studies
Untrawled
Trawled
Clark, M. and ODriscoll, R. (2003) Deepwater
fisheries and aspects of their impact on seamount
habitat in New Zealand. Journal of Northwest
Atlantic Fishery Science 31 441-?458. Clark,
M.R. and Koslow, J.A. (2007) Impacts of fisheries
on seamounts. Chapter 19, pages 413441 in
Seamounts Ecology, Fisheries and Conservation.
T.J. Pitcher, T. Morato, P.J.B. Hart, M.R. Clark,
N. Haggan and R.S. Santos (eds), Fish and Aquatic
Resources Series, Blackwell, Oxford, UK. 527pp.
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Small-Scale Fisheries on Seamounts
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Azores examples
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xxx
Azores Seamounts and No-trawl Zone
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Azores Catch Time Series Sustainable?
da Silva, H.M. and Pinho, M.R. (2007)
Small-Scale Fishing On Seamounts. Chapter 16 in
Pitcher, T.J., Morato, T., Hart, P.J.B., Clark,
M.R., Haggan, N. and Santos, R.S. (eds)
Seamounts Ecology, Conservation and Management.
Fish and Aquatic Resources Series, Blackwell,
Oxford, UK
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Small-scale Seamount fisheries about 250,000
tonnes/year Hawaii Madeira Azores Seychelles Some
desirable features Catches modest Gear causes
minimal damage Gear has small by-catch Few
discards Can have good markets (e.g., EU auction
system) Fishery benefits (money, employment) are
local Fishers part of local community
Features of Small-Scale Fisheries at Oceanic
Islands
da Silva, H.M. and Pinho, M.R. (2007)
Small-Scale Fishing On Seamounts. Chapter 16 in
Pitcher, T.J., Morato, T., Hart, P.J.B., Clark,
M.R., Haggan, N. and Santos, R.S. (eds)
Seamounts Ecology, Conservation and Management.
Fish and Aquatic Resources Series, Blackwell,
Oxford, UK
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What Could We Catch?
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For seamount species global estimate MSY
138,000 tonnes current catch est. 400,000
tonnes THREE TIMES the sustainable level Based
on Cheung et al. (2007) MSY global for all
commercial fish species using a metabolic/trophic
model. Alternative technique Srinivasan et al.
(2008) MSY 34,000 tonnes ELEVEN TIMES the
sustainable level
Sustainable Seamount Catches Estimated
Cheung, W.W.L., Watson R., Morato, T., Pitcher,
T.J. and Pauly, D. (2007) Intrinsic vulnerability
in the global fish catch. Marine Ecology Progress
Series 333 1-12. Srinivasan, U.T., Carey, S.P.,
Hallstein, E., Higgins, P.A.T., Kerr, A.C.,
Koteen, L.E., Smith, A.B., Watson, R., Harte, J.
and Norgaard, R.B. (2008) The Distribution of
Ecological Impacts from Human Activities over
1961-2000 and the Debt of Nations. Proc. National
Acad. Science 105 1768-1773.
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What has been done ? What could be done?
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Wide scientific and public concern recent
initiatives improve conservation (Probert et al.
2007) Management measures implemented no-take
zones no-trawl zones MPAs various levels of
protection by zone and by fishing gear Southern
Australia New Zealand 19 seamounts 30 of EEZ
no-trawl the Azores 100 nautical mile box
protected from trawling for over 20 years
north-east Atlantic (e.g., through NEAFC, OSPAR,
ICES, EU), northwest Atlantic, northeast
Pacific (Bowie Smt, Canada Davidson Smt,
California), Alaska (1 million km2 protected)
Hawaii CCAMLR precautionary fishing limits
Mediterranean Sea depth limits
Some Recent Fishery Management Initiatives
Probert, P.K., Christiansen, S., Gjerde, K.M.,
Gubbay, S. and Santos, R.S (2007) Management and
conservation of seamounts. Chapter 20 in Pitcher,
T.J., Morato, T., Hart, P.J.B., Clark, M.R.,
Haggan, N. and Santos, R.S. (eds) Seamounts
Ecology, Conservation and Management. Fish and
Aquatic Resources Series, Blackwell, Oxford, UK
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FAO guidelines on management of deep sea
fisheries (FAO 2008) IUCN supporting
documents (e.g., Rogers et al. 2008) contain
specific recommendations, Will they be
implemented in time?
Recent Seamount Fishery Management Initiatives
FAO (2008) Report of the Expert Consultation on
international guidelines for the management of
deep-sea fisheries in the High Seas Bangkok,
11-14 September 2007. FAO Fisheries Report. No.
855. 39 p. Rogers, A.D., M.R. Clark, J.M.
Hall-Spencer Gjerde, K.M. (2008) The science
behind the guidelines A scientific guide to the
FAO Draft International Guidelines (December
2007) for the management of Deep-Sea Fisheries in
the high Seas and examples of how the guidelines
may be practically implemented. IUCN,
Switzerland, 2008.
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The End we rather hope not!
Seamount graphics courtesy Les Gallaher, Horta