Conservation And Adaptive Management Of Seamount And Deep Sea Coral Ecosystems

NOAA Technical Memorandum CRCP 11. Identifies goals, objectives, and approaches to guide NOAA's research, management, and international cooperation activities on deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems for fiscal years 2010 through 2019. Integrates research and conservation needs and is intended to be a flexible, evolving document that allows NOAA and its partners to address new management challenges and priorities as appropriate. The primary goal of this Strategic Plan is to improve the understanding, conservation, and management of deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems.

Describes major shortcomings in the implementation of U.N. General Assembly resolutions designed to protect the deep-ocean from the destructive impact of fishing. This is the first comprehensive scientific review of the mgmt. of deep-sea fishing on the high seas globally, this report examines the data available from Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMOs), the bodies tasked with implementing the U.N. resolutions. It concludes that ¿RFMOs are failing to manage deep-sea bottom fisheries on the high seas sustainably with respect to target and by-catch species. For most fisheries there is little or no info. on the status of stocks and in many cases we do not even know what is being caught where." Illus. A print on demand report.

Seamounts are ubiquitous undersea mountains rising from the ocean seafloor that do not reach the surface. There are likely many hundreds of thousands of seamounts, they are usually formed from volcanoes in the deep sea and are defined by oceanographers as independent features that rise to at least 0.5 km above the seafloor, although smaller features may have the same origin. This book follows a logical progression from geological and physical processes, ecology, biology and biogeography, to exploitation, management and conservation concerns. In 21 Chapters written by 57 of the world’s leading seamount experts, the book reviews all aspects of their geology, ecology, biology, exploitation, conservation and management. In Section I of this book, several detection and estimation techniques for tallying seamounts are reviewed, along with a history of seamount research. This book represents a unique and fresh synthesis of knowledge of seamounts and their biota and is an essential reference work on the topic. It is an essential purchase for all fisheries scientists and managers, fish biologists, marine biologists and ecologists, environmental scientists, conservation biologists and oceanographers. It will also be of interest to members of fish and wildlife agencies and government departments covering conservation and management. Supplementary material is available at: www.seamountsbook.info

This United Nations report examines the current state of knowledge of the world's oceans, for policymakers, and provides a reference for marine science courses.

"Written for the upper-level undergraduate or graduate-level course, Marine Environmental Biology and Conservation provides an introduction to the environmental and anthropogenic threats facing the world's oceans and outlines the steps that can and should be taken to protect these vital habitats"--