Protecting biodiversity of the deep sea:

1

• Protecting biodiversity of the deep sea
• Policy and practice in Australias response.
• Jon Nevill
• University of Tasmania
• 2007
• Society for Conservation
• Biology Conference
• Sydney

2
Presentation overview
1. On the international scene, Australia has
taken a progressive stance towards increasing
protection of deep sea biodiversity. 2. On the
domestic scene, Australian fishing practice is in
violation of both international law and domestic
legislation. Domestic fishing practice
contravenes core national policies.
3
Australia is recognised internationally as a
leader in marine conservation

• Australia has one of the largest networks of
  marine protected areas
• Australia is one of the few nations to commence
  implementation of a strategic approach to MPA
  network development
• Australia was one of the first nations to
  endorse the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible
  Fisheries 1995, and was one of the first
  nations to introduce mandatory use of the
  precautionary approach in fishery management
  plans through amendments to the Commonwealth
  Fisheries Management Act 1991 and
• Australia is one of the few nations to attempt
  to plan on the basis of regional marine
  ecosystems.

4
Australia is recognised internationally as a
leader in marine conservation

• Australia supported calls for a moratorium on
  high seas bottom trawling at the United Nations
  General Assembly in 2006.
• in 2007, with New Zealand and Chile, Australia
  has played a key role in the formation of the
  South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management
  Organisation. This work has included interim
  controls over bottom trawling on the high seas
  within the South Pacific Ocean.

5
Where is the deep sea?
Different authors define the deep sea as starting
between 200 and 500 m depth. The richest marine
environments of the deep sea often lie between
500 and 1500 m, well within the reach of deep sea
trawlers.
6
Is deep sea biodiversity important?
The deep sea is a major reservoir of the planets
biodiversity, most of it unknown and unstudied
the last great frontier on Earth.
(Roberts 2005, Smith et al. 2006)
7
Is deep sea biodiversity important?
While much of the abyssal region is sparsely
populated, the marine life of deep sea benthic
ecosystems around features such as seamounts,
hydrothermal vents, ridges and trenches is often
both rich and abundant.
8
Is deep sea biodiversity vulnerable?
On a typical fishing trip in the NE Atlantic, a
trawler sweeps 33 km2 of sea bed. A single
trawl can completely destroy a cold-water coral
reef which has taken thousands of years to
grow. Hain Corcoran 2004121
Image BBC London
9
Trawl damage, NE Atlantic
40 of Lophelia pertusa reefs were damaged or
destroyed in Norwegian waters by 2000 (identified
coral areas are now protected in the Norwegian
EEZ) Damage is similar or worse than blast
fishing. Images by
Jan Helge Fosså
10
Orange roughy bycatch
Photo Greenpeace New Zealand
11
Is deep sea biodiversity vulnerable?
Deep sea bottom trawling commonlytargets
spawning aggregations of benthic and demersal
fish In spite of FAO Code of Conduct 1995
calls for States to protect critical nursery
and spawning habitats (para. 6.8) Johannesburg
WSSD 2002 calls for States to implement time /
area closures for the protection of nursery
grounds and periods (para 32c). SCRFA 2003
all fish spawning aggregation sites should be
conserved (Statement of Concern 2003). Society
for the Conservation of Reef Fish
Aggregations World Conservation Congress 2004
urges States to sustain and protect reef fish
and their spawning aggregations (Recommendation
3.100)
12
Fishing orange roughy spawning aggregations
Photo AFMA
St Helens Hill is a spawning aggregation site.
Like New Zealand, Australian fishery management
has aimed at a target reference point of stock
biomass above 30 of virgin.
13
Fishing orange roughy spawning aggregations
In spite of AFMAs statutory duty to apply the
precautionary approach to fishery management,
most stocks of orange roughy have dropped below
both the target reference point (30 Bo) and the
limit reference point (20 Bo).


AFMA Australian Fisheries
Management Authority
14
Use of precaution and best available science.
Scientists reporting through the Australian
Deepwater Assessment Group (DAG 2005) appear
reluctant to use fully precautionary approaches.
For example, after discussing the Eastern Zone
orange roughy fishery (which includes St Helens
Hill) where estimated biomass fell from an
initial 109 k tonnes in 1989 to 11.5 k tonnes in
2002, DAG noted that Current management
objectives, strategies and performance indicators
can no longer be reached for this stock. Noting
also that a 20 Bo limit reference point is
below that recommended for a long lived species
and 30 would be more appropriate DAG (20053)
suggest that an immediate management objective
could be to rebuild stock to above the limit
reference point (20) with 50 to 90
probability. Such a recommendation, given the
severity of the decline, and the wide probability
range, is arguably the reverse of precautionary.
DAG Deepwater Assessment Group (2005), Report to
the South East Shark and Scalefish Fishery
Assessment Group 2005 Plenary, Australian
Fisheries Management Authority, Canberra.
15
The requirements of international law are not
being implemented

• 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the
  Sea
• Articles 117-119 establish a duty to cooperate
  and take such measures as may be necessary for
  the conservation of the living resources of the
  high seas.
• Article 194.5 a duty to protect and preserve
  rare or fragile ecosystems

• 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity
• Preamble emphasizes the importance of prior
  environmental assessment and the application of
  the precautionary approach.
• Article 3 States have the responsibility to
  ensure that activities within their control
  do not cause damage to areas beyond the limits
  of national jurisdiction.
• CoP 2006 Decision VIII/21, dealing with genetic
  resources of the deep sea bed, stresses the
  need for precaution and requests further
  investigation of management options.

16
The requirements of international law are not
being implemented

• 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement
• Apply the precautionary and ecosystem approaches
  widely to the conservation and management of
  straddling and migratory fish stocks in order to
  protect and preserve the marine environment.
• Assess and minimize the impact of fishing
  activities on non-target and associated or
  dependent species and their environment article
  5(d), 5(f).
• Protect biodiversity in the marine environment
  article 5(g).
• Protect habitats of special concern article
  6.3.
• States shall be more cautious when information
  is uncertain, unreliable or inadequate. The
  absence of adequate scientific information shall
  not be used as a reason for postponing or
  failing to take conservation and management
  measures articles 6.1, 6.2.
• 1995 the voluntary FAO Code of Conduct for
  Responsible Fisheries, formally supported by 124
  nations in the Rome Declaration 1999, applies
  these same requirements broadly to all fishing
  activities.
• Most deep sea bottom trawling activities are
  entirely inconsistent with the precautionary and
  ecosystem-based approaches to fishery management.

17
International law and national policy are not
being implemented
1972 Stockholm Declaration 1982 World Charter
for Nature 1992 Convention on Biological
Diversity 1996 National Strategy for the
Conservation of Australias Biological
Diversity 2004 (World Conservation
Congress) Australia is committed to the
protection of representative ecosystems. The
conservation of biodiversity, including aquatic
biodiversity, requires the protection of
representative examples of all major ecosystem
types (especially those vulnerable to
degradation) coupled with the sympathetic
management of ecosystems outside those protected
areas.
18
Protection of representative ecosystems
Orange roughy were targeted in all eleven
Australian fishing zones in which they occurred
in commercial quantities. Only one population, on
the Cascade Plateau, is thought to remain in a
reasonably healthy state. Where population
estimates have been made, in all other zones the
population was rapidly fished past both the
target and limit reference points. It seems
likely that these orange roughy areas represent
distinct and important deep sea
ecosystems. Australias only healthy population
of orange roughy has not been protected, and is
still being fished, with attendant damage to its
habitat even though orange roughy has been
listed as conservation dependent under the EPBC
Act.
19
(No Transcript)
20
Application of the precautionary approach
In 1997, Commonwealth statutes were amended
requiring Australian fisheries managers to apply
a precautionary approach. Australia had already
committed to a precautionary approach through the
World Charter for Nature 1982, the Rio
Declaration 1992 and the FAO Code of Conduct
1995. A decade later, AFMA has not attempted to
systematically apply FAO precautionary
guidelines, nor has it developed Australian
guidelines for the application of precaution to
fisheries management. Over that time, several
important Commonwealth fisheries have moved from
fully fished to over-fished in Government
assessments.
21
Application of the precautionary approach
AFMA reviewed its Harvest Strategy Policy in
2007. The review failed to adopt a
precautionary benchmark contained in the UN Fish
Stocks Agreement. In spite of the development of
a risk assessment framework, the review failed to
link risk levels with precautionary default
reference points.
22
Phase-out of destructive fishing practices
Through its endorsement of the Johannesburg
Implementation Statement 2002, Australia
committed itself to phase out destructive fishing
practices by 2012. Given the investment of the
fishing industry in expensive gear, a phase-out
of such practises is likely to take several
years, and would need to be preceded by a lengthy
consultation program and strategy
development. AFMA has made no move towards the
development of a strategic approach to the
phase-out, and industry involvement in
destructive fishing practices continues.
23
In summary
Current management arrangements aimed at
protecting Australias deep sea biodiversity are
not adequate. Domestic fishing practice
contravenes international and national law, and
core national policy. The gravity of the issue
requires involvement from the marine science
community.
24
This presentation is available at
www.onlyoneplanet.com.au
25
Clearly we are in the midst of one of the great
1993268 extinction spasms of geological
history - E.O. Wilson

• Sequential degradation
• Grasslands and woodlands
• Tropical/temperate rainforest
• Island biodiversity
• Rivers, lakes and estuaries
• Shallow water coral reefs
• Deep-sea biodiversity
• Arctic and mountain ecosystems.