Policy Implications of the Atlas Project
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CONTACT Project Coordinator: Project Management Communication: J Murray Roberts Team: Annette Wilson [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] @eu_ ATLAS @EuATLAS ATLAS-Deep Discoveries EU_ ATLAS POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF THE ATLAS PROJECT OCTOBER 2020 Designed by AquaTT Designed by This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 678760 (ATLAS). This output reflects only the author’s view and the European Union WWW.EU-ATLAS.ORG cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. © Ifremer POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF THE ATLAS PROJECT POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF THE ATLAS PROJECT PREFACE This document is a synthesis of the ATLAS report on “Policy implications on the governance This high-level summary brings together the key policy-relevant results of the four- regime for the North Atlantic and articulation with global and regional instruments resulting year, European Union Horizon 2020 ATLAS Project: A trans-Atlantic assessment and from changing deep-sea dynamics”, ATLAS Deliverable 7.8: DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4064242 deep-sea ecosystem-based spatial management plan for Europe (May 2016 – October Lead Authors: Phillip J. Turner, David E. Johnson, J. Murray Roberts 2020). The importance of these results to decision makers as well as their relevance Contributing Authors: Claire Armstrong; Sophie Arnaud-Haond; Bich Xuân Bui; Jens Carlsson; to established policy objectives and on-going policy discussions is highlighted, with Marina Carreiro-Silva; Hermione Cockburn; Stuart Cunningham; Pablo Durán Muñoz; Julia discussion focusing on five main themes: Eighteen; Alan Fox; Ana García-Alegre; Matthew Gianni; Ronnie Glud; Anthony Grehan; Lea- Anne Henry; Clare Johnson; Georgios Kazanidis; Ellen Kenchington; Godwin Kofi Vondolia; 1. Biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and the Christian Mohn; Telmo Morato; Katherine Needham; Covadonga Orejas; Stéphane Pesant; need for sustainable Blue Growth; Patricia Puerta; Adriana Ressurreição; Marieke Reuver; Alex Rogers; Steve Ross; Lorenzo Rovelli; Mar Sacau; Peter Spooner; David Thornalley; Dick van Oevelen; Natalie Walls; Annette Wilson; 2. Climate change and Area Based Management Tools; George Wolff 3. Connectivity and Area Based Management Tools; For a high-level summary of all project results, please also refer to the ATLAS Compendium of 4. ATLAS tools to inform ocean governance and sustainable Results: DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3925096 Blue Growth; and This booklet was designed by AquaTT. The content was developed by Seascape Consultants 5. ATLAS contributions to the Galway Statement Ltd with significant contributions fromATLAS partners and the ATLAS Project Office and research dissemination (University of Edinburgh). All of the results described were generated by the ATLAS Project. Citation ATLAS Project Consortium. (2020) Policy implications of the ATLAS Project. Seascape Consultants Ltd, UK and AquaTT, Ireland. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.4063323 ) 3 7 0 C J ( s t r e b o R y a r r u M J © n a e c O c i t n a l t A h t r o N e h t n i t a t i b a h l a r o c r e t a w - ld o C 03 © POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF THE ATLAS PROJECT POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF THE ATLAS PROJECT INTRODUCTION POLICY IMPACT OF ATLAS FIELDWORK AND DEEP-SEA DISCOVERIES The ATLAS Project was one of the first Galway Statement-linked projects funded Forty-five research expeditions were conducted within theATLAS framework (2016- under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. 2020), leading to numerous deep-sea discoveries that have helped to inform the The Galway Statement is a foundational policy statement that fosters collaboration development and management of Area Based Management Tools. Below are a few between the European Union, Canada and the United States of America 1 and has examples where ATLAS research has directly contributed to policy developments. enabled basin-scale research projects, such as ATLAS, to expand our understanding of North Atlantic ecosystems. The ATLAS Project brought together over 70 researchers from diverse scientific fields (e.g., oceanographers, ecologists, social scientists), alongside experts in data management, science communication and marine policy, to provide new science and A. Eastern Canadian Arctic B. Reykjanes Ridge C. Faroe-Shetland Channel Highly diverse sponge communities ATLAS research around Steinhóll ATLAS described sponge communities advice on how to ensure sustainable Blue Growth in the Atlantic Ocean. Structured have been observed, with 93 species hydrothermal vent documented located between 450 and 530 m water around nine scientific work packages, the project team took a multidisciplinary identified from the region. The data Lophelia pertusa reefs and a diverse depth. These data have contributed to contributed to the establishment of sponge community. The data the management of the Faroe-Shetland approach to improve our understanding of ocean dynamics, ecosystem functioning, three marine refuges, including the contributed to its consideration at the Channel Nature Conservation Marine deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as the potential impact and Davis Strait Conservation Area. CBD NE Atlantic EBSA workshop. Protected Area. implications of climate change on the deep ocean. A Ocean Circulation Carbon Flow Biodiversity B C Socio-Economics Networking Marine Spatial D Planning E F Policy Data Management Communication D. Azores E. Gulf of Cádiz F. Tropic Seamount The Luso hydrothermal vent field was Sponge aggregations dominated by ATLAS documented diverse discovered on the Gigante Seamount Leiodermatium sp., and coral gardens communities, including octocoral during the Blue Azores Expedition in were discovered at Gazul mud volcano gardens, crinoid fields and sponge 2018. The Regional Government of the during the MEDWAVES cruise (2016). grounds formed by the glass sponge Azores has since declared the vent field The data were used in the ICES Poliopogon amadou. The data a Marine Protected Area that is fully workshop on EU regulatory area contributed to its consideration at the protected from fishing impacts. options for VME protection. CBD Regional EBSA Workshop for the North-East Atlantic in 2019. 2 3 04 Image credits: A) Fisheries and Oceans Canada; B) MFRI, Iceland; C) Kazanidis et al. 2019, DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00163 ; D) Oceano Azul Expedition ROV Luso EMEPC, IMAR-UAz; 05 E) IEO-MEDWAVES/ATLAS 4;F) Ramiro-Sanchez et al. 2019, DOI 10.3389/fmars.2019.00278 – image from the NERC-funded MarineTech project (NE/MO1151/1) and crew of cruise JC142.5 POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF THE ATLAS PROJECT POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF THE ATLAS PROJECT 1. BIODIVERSITY, ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING AND THE NEED FOR SUSTAINABLE BLUE GROWTH Box 1. The assessment of Good Environmental Status in the deep sea is challenging and requires deep-sea specific indicators Importance of deep-sea sponge and coral Societal support for Good Environmental Status ecosystems in the deep sea Deep-water sponge grounds, cold-water coral The need to safeguard deep-sea habitats and the reefs and coral gardens were focal ecosystems ecosystem services they provide appears to be ATLAS conducted an initial assessment of Good Environmental Status (GES) in European case within ATLAS due to their importance as a widely recognised by society. ATLAS research study areas for five GES Descriptors (biodiversity, commercial fish and shellfish, food webs, seafloor habitat for deep-sea species, their role in global shows that members of the public in Scotland, integrity and marine litter), using the Nested Environmental status Assessment Tool (NEAT) that biogeochemical cycles and the vulnerability of Norway, mainland Portugal and Canada have was developed by the EU-funded FP7 project DEVOTES60,61. cold-water coral habitats to climate change. low-to-moderate knowledge regarding deep- 62 Using a new and highly innovative methodology sea ecosystems but nevertheless believe that NEAT includes a database of more than 600 indicators ; however, most indicators have been 61 for measuring in situ respiration rates, ATLAS changes in the deep sea would have some effect developed for coastal and shallow-water ecosystems . ATLAS reviewed a shortlist of 305 indicators showed that sponge grounds, cold-water coral on them personally. Between 60% and 85% of to identify those that are appropriate for assessing deep-sea environmental status, and had the 60,61 reefs and coral gardens trap and process large survey participants in each country considered opportunity to suggest new indicators specifically for the deep sea . In total, 24 indicators were quantities of organic matter, with benthic changes in the deep sea to have a ‘personal effect agreed upon by ATLAS case study leaders, 10 of which were new indicators specific to the deep 11 60 respiration rates between two and ten times that on them’ . The public surveys also showed that sea . 6,7 members of the public are willing to pay to support of surrounding deep-sea sediment . New models Within the assessment, case study leaders agreed that data availability and data standardisation new management plans that address deep-sea combining hydrodynamics and animal physiology need to be improved before NEAT can be used to monitor environmental status in the deep sea61. suggest that even in regions where biomass is low, environmental health and quality, with preference cold-water corals can have a significant impact on given to management plans that aim to reduce At present, data are only available for localised areas, representing specific habitats and (or) biogeochemical cycles, altering the concentration the density of marine litter and improve the health ecosystem components. Therefore, the number of habitats and ecosystem components that can 11 of suspended organic matter over large areas of commercial fish stocks . These environmental be included in an assessment of GES is limited for the deep sea and the data collected within a of the seafloor8,9. At the Mingulay Reef Complex attributes align with Descriptor 10 (marine litter) Spatial Assessment Unit are not always representative of the unit as a whole61.