Images from NOAA Ocean Explorer: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/please do not use images from this presentation without permission of source

Deepsea Trawling:Blind Destruction of Last Frontier

Rainer FroeseLeibniz Institute of Marine Sciences

(some slides courtesy of Karen Stocks and Daniel Pauly)

Fishing Down Marine Food Webs(Pauly et al. Science 1998)

(t/km2)

Biomass of Table Fish in 1900 Christensen et al. 2003

and in 2000….

Biomass of Table Fish in 2000 Christensen et al. 2003

Overfishing the Northeast Atlantic(Froese & Pauly 2003)

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998

Years

Per

cen

t o

f IC

ES

Fis

her

ies

43%3.9 years

28%5.1 years

Undeveloped

Developing

Fully exploited

Overfished

Collapsed

There is Life in the Deep

However

• Most of the deepsea is unknown• Undersea mountains (seamounts)

are oases in the deep• On some seamounts over 30% of

the species occur nowhere else

Seamounts = Undersea Mountains

Patton Seamount: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/

30,000++ globally30,000++ globally

Image from ETOPO2, NGDC

Seabed Swath Mapping:Fishing Down Seamounts

FAO 2004

Biologically UniqueBiologically Unique

Living Fossils

This sea lily was thought extinct since 100 million years

Long lived species

This spicule is from a sponge

2 m tall and 440 years old

Images and age estimates from B. Richer de Forges and collaborators

Habitat Impacts

Images: Dr. K. Sainsbury, CSIRO

before trawling

after trawling

The Trails of Destruction

“Typical” deep seafloor courtesy F. Grassle

These Fish are Old

Deepsea Animals Are Typically

• Medium-sized carnivores• Long-lived (some over 100 years)• Late maturing (some with 30-50 years)• Slow growing• Vulnerable (typically only 5% per year

may be taken)• Mostly unknown (often bizarre)

Deep Sea Stocks after 20 Years of Modest Fishing

Based on modeling by Morato et al. 2004

Deep Sea Fishing is Increasing

FAO 2004

Deepsea Boom and Bust

Watson & Morato 2004

Deepsea Fishing around Europe(ICES data 1998-2000)

Country/Species Orange roughy

Trichiurids(H & L)

Greenlandhalibut

Faroe Islands X X X

France X X

Germany X

Iceland X

Norway X

Portugal X X

Spain X X

UK X X

Conclusions

Deepsea trawling is

– biologically unsustainable– environmentally

unsustainable– economically unsustainable

Thank You