Ecosystem overview and advice for Deepwater

This description covers the benthic deepwater ecosystem and its associated species; for a description of the oceanic water column habitat, please refer to the section of widely distributed and migratory species.

Summary table of the ICES Ecosystem for the Deep Sea

(Information condensed from ICES WGRED, 2008 see WG report for further details and reference list)

Physics

Bathymetry Most of the surface is abyssal plain with an average depth >ca 4 000 m. The continental slope is rocky hard substrate from Ireland southwards and covered with sediment west of the British Isles. Two offshore banks, the Rockall and Hatton Banks are separated from the continental shelf by the Rockall Trough. The north of this advisory region is marked by the Wyville Thomson and Iceland-Faroe Ridges and the south by the Azores. To the west is the mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), stretching from Iceland to the Azores. Isolated seamounts occur over the whole basin.

Circulation The general circulation in the epipelagic zone (0-200m) is a warm current flow from the south-west North Atlantic towards the European coast with several side branches.

Cold currents flow south from the Labrador Sea and Irminger Sea and also as a strong deep water flow between Shetland and the Faeroes.

Temperature Salinity

Below about 700m there is little seasonal variation in temperature, average temperatures are 7°C to 8°C at 1000m depth and less than 4°C below 2000m.

Biology

reaches a maximum depth of 200m and only a small proportion (1%-3%) may arrive in deeper waters as ‘planktonic snow’. This and descents of carcasses down the slopes bring organic matter to the deep environments.

Benthos, larger invertebrate, biogenic habitats

There is little commercial exploitation of large invertebrates in this region. Some bycatch of cephalopods and crabs (Chaceon affinis) occurs in deep-water fisheries.

Biogenic habitats occur along the slope, such as those formed by the scleractinian Lophelia pertusa a colonial coral, forming large bioherms or reefs along the slope, on the offshore banks, on the mid-Atlantic Ridge and on seamounts. Dense and diverse fauna associated with such reefs include fixed (e.g.anthipatarians, gorgonians) and mobile invertebrates (e.g. echinoderms, crustaceans) and has species richness up to three times higher than on the surrounding sedimentary seabed.

Fish Community The midwater pelagic or mesopelagic zone (200-1000 m) has a high diversity and abundance of small fish species, notably Myctophidae, Gonostomatidae and

Stomiidae, most of which migrate diurnally and thus bring nutrients into deeper water layers. Fish communities above the abyssal plane in the bathypelagic zone (1000-3000m) include Bathylagidae, Platytroctidae and Searsidae. The species composition of demersal deep water fish community depends on depth. Dominant commercial species at 200-2000m include species such as ling, tusk, roundnose grenadier, orange roughy, deepwater sharks, chimaeriforms and other species such as redfish, monkfish and Greenland halibut. All deepwater shark species and most larger deepwater demersal fish are assumed to be highly vulnerable to overexploitation, having a low reproductive capacity. Most fisheries are occurring on the continental slopes, the seamounts and the MAR.

Elasmobranches Amongst sharks, Centroscymnus coelolepis and Centrophorus squamosus, the two main commercial species (1 to 1.5 m long) are seriously depleted. The status of a number of smaller or less common species (Centroscymnus crepidater, Deania calcea, Dalatias licha, Scymnodon ringens, Etmopterus spp. Galeus spp. Apristurus spp.) is less clear.

Environmental signals &

implications

The deep sea environment is considered to be less variable than surface systems.

Moreover, due to the long life span of exploited species, variations in annual recruitment have a relatively minor effect on the standing biomass so short-term variability in the environment is unlikely to have great effects on stocks. Abundance of some deepwater invertebrate species has been linked to the North Atlantic Oscillation but overall it is not known how climate change might change the deep seas in the longer term.

Fishery effects on benthos and fish communities

Modern fishing fleets have caused significant reduction in demersal deepwater fish biomass in just a few years; resulting in the collapse of several fisheries. In addition to catching target species, deepwater fisheries by-catch unwanted species that are either too small or currently unmarketable and discarding rates are often high (in the order of 50%). Deepwater trawling can damage deep sea benthic communities, impacting particularly on structurally complex habitats such as Lophelia reefs. Deep-water set nets can also have a negative impact, both on the fish community due to ghost fishing and targeting vulnerable species such as sharks. Long-line fishing can also have

negative effects on the ecosystem through breaking off branches of coral, overturning large sponges and may also have some bycatch of seabirds. The degree of

perturbation and damage caused by deepwater fisheries depends on their spatial extend and the frequency of their activites.

Deepwater - Ecosystem considerations

The following considerations should be taken into account in developing ecosystem based fisheries advice for deepwater fisheries:

• Due to their low reproductive output and high longevity, many deepwater fish species are very vulnerable to overfishing. Populations of fish that aggregate on oceanic bathymetric features such as seamounts are particularly sensitive to overfishing, due to high catchability. Most commercial deepwater species are now severely depleted. This depletion has lead to changes in demersal deep sea fish communities due to the loss of their larger predators.

• Many demersal slope species are not commercial because they do not reach sufficient size or have low marketability resulting in the bulk of the catch being discarded. As the deepwater fish community is very species rich, this is likely to affect a large number of species.

• Deepwater species are dependant on nutrient input from the upper ocean layers via planktonic snow, mesopelagic species and fall of carcasses. This should be taken into account when considering fisheries for mesopelagic species.

• The human exploitation of the deepwater ecosystem has been a relatively recent event when compared to the long history of human activities on the shelf. Thus, the pristine nature of many of its habitats should be taken into account when considering any exploitation of deepwater resources.

• Biogenic habitat such as those formed by the cold water coral Lophelia pertusa occur along the slope, on the offshore banks (Rockall and Hatton), on the mid-Atlantic Ridge and on seamounts supporting rich and diverse faunal assemblages. Deepwater trawling as well as set nets and longlining are known to have negative impacts on these habitats and closed area have already been set up for their protection (see further details in this chapter). However, many areas in the deepsea ecoregion remain to be surveyed for Lophelia pertusa. In addition, the impact of fishing on other biogenic habitats such as

Figure 1.1.9: Distribution of deepwater Lophelia reefs in the North East Atlantic and wider (WGRED, 2007 reproduced from Freiwald, 1998).

References:

Freiwald, A. and Wilson, B.J., 1998. Taphonomy of modern deep, cold-temperate water corals reefs. Historical Biology, 13: 37-52.

ICES. 2008. Report of the Working Group for Regional Ecosystem Description (WGRED).

1.1.5 Ecosystem overview and advice for Widely Distributed and