… Distr. GENERAL UNEP/CBD/EBSA/WS/2014/2/2 12 March 2014 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
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CBD Distr. GENERAL UNEP/CBD/EBSA/WS/2014/2/2 12 March 2014 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH NORTH-WEST ATLANTIC REGIONAL WORKSHOP TO FACILITATE THE DESCRIPTION OF ECOLOGICALLY OR BIOLOGICALLY SIGNIFICANT MARINE AREAS Montreal, 24-28 March 2014 DATA TO INFORM THE NORTH-WEST ATLANTIC REGIONAL WORKSHOP TO FACILITATE THE DESCRIPTION OF ECOLOGICALLY OR BIOLOGICALLY SIGNIFICANT MARINE AREAS Note by the Executive Secretary 1. The Executive Secretary is circulating herewith a background document containing data to inform the North-west Atlantic Regional Workshop to Facilitate the Description of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas. This document was prepared by the Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University, as commissioned by the Secretariat, in support of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity in its scientific and technical preparation for the above-mentioned workshop. 2. The document is circulated in the form and language in which it was received by the Secretariat. /… In order to minimize the environmental impacts of the Secretariat’s processes, and to contribute to the Secretary- General’s initiative for a C-Neutral UN, this document is printed in limited numbers. Delegates are kindly requested to bring their copies to meetings and not to request additional copies. Data to inform the CBD Workshop to Facilitate the Description of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas in the Northwest Atlantic Patrick Halpin, Jesse Cleary, Corrie Curtice, Ben Donnelly, Daniel Dunn, Jason Roberts 24 March – 28 March 2014 Prepared for the Secretariat of the Convention on Biodiversity (SCBD) /… Inquiries should be addressed to: Jesse Cleary Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University Durham, NC, USA Telephone : +1 919 613 8021 x6 Email : [email protected] Web : http://mgel.env.duke.edu Copyright and Disclaimer © Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708. To the extent permitted by law, all rights are reserved and no part of this publication covered by copyright may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means except with the written permission of the Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / Duke University. Important Notice Information contained in this publication comprises general statements based on scientific research. The Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab (MGEL) advises the reader to note that such information may be incomplete or unable to be used in any specific situation. No reliance or actions must therefore be made on that information without seeking prior expert professional, scientific and technical advice. To the extent permitted by law, MGEL (including its employees and consultants) excludes all liability to any person for any consequences, including but not limited to all losses, damages, costs, expenses and any other compensation, arising directly or indirectly from using this publication (in part or in whole) and any information or material contained in it. Additionally, some data sets used herein require permission from the data providers for use. 3 Contents 1 Background ..................................................................................................................... 8 2 Biogeographic Classifications ........................................................................................... 9 2.1 Global Open Ocean and Deep Seabed (GOODS) biogeographic classification ..................... 9 2.2 Marine Ecoregions of the World (MEOW) ....................................................................................... 11 2.3 Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) ....................................................................................................... 12 2.4 Longhurst Marine Provinces ................................................................................................................. 13 3 Biological Data ............................................................................................................... 14 3.1 Biological Data from the AMSA II(c) report .................................................................................... 14 3.2 Historical Whale Captures ...................................................................................................................... 16 3.3 Catches of Commercial Pelagic Species ............................................................................................. 18 3.4 Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) ....................................................................... 20 3.5 Predictions of Deep Sea Corals ............................................................................................................. 24 3.6 Predictions of Deep-Sea Octocorals .................................................................................................... 28 3.7 Turtle tagging data aggregated by OBIS-SEAMAP ........................................................................ 29 3.8 Leatherback Turtle Telemetry and Density .................................................................................... 30 3.9 Spatial Use by Leatherback Turtles .................................................................................................... 32 3.10 Canadian Sea Turtle Network Tracks ............................................................................................. 34 3.11 Important Bird Areas ............................................................................................................................. 35 3.12 Distribution of Macrobenthic Organisms the Canadian Artic and Atlantic Waters ..... 36 3.13 Blue Shark Migration Pathways ........................................................................................................ 39 3.14 Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem Indicator Species ....................................................................... 41 3.15 Spring Bloom Spatial Dynamics......................................................................................................... 53 4 Physical Data ................................................................................................................. 54 4.1 Seamounts ..................................................................................................................................................... 55 4.2 Vents and Seeps .......................................................................................................................................... 57 4.3 Bathymetry (GEBCO) ................................................................................................................................ 58 4.4 Distribution of Large Submarine Canyons ....................................................................................... 59 4.5 Total Sediment Thickness of the Worlds Oceans & Marginal Seas ........................................ 60 4.6 Global Seascapes ......................................................................................................................................... 61 4.7 Seafloor Geomorphology......................................................................................................................... 63 4.8 CSIRO Atlas of Regional Seas (CARS) Physical Ocean Climatologies .................................... 64 4.9 Ocean Surface Temperature .................................................................................................................. 68 4.10 Sea Surface Temperature Front Occurrence ................................................................................ 69 4.11 VGPM Ocean Productivity .................................................................................................................... 70 4.12 Chlorophyll A Climatology ................................................................................................................... 71 4.13 Sea Surface Height ................................................................................................................................... 72 4.14 Mesoscale Eddy Density ....................................................................................................................... 73 4.15 Eddy Kinetic Energy ............................................................................................................................... 74 4.16 High Eddy Probability Areas from Geostrophic Currents ...................................................... 75 4.17 Gulf Stream Geostrophic Currents.................................................................................................... 76 4.18 Drifter Climatology of Near-Surface Currents ............................................................................. 77 4.19 Surface Current Velocity ....................................................................................................................... 78 4 5 Additional Data Reports ................................................................................................. 79 5.1 Identification Of Additional Ecologically And Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) Within The Newfoundland And Labrador Shelves Bioregion ............................................................. 79 5.2 Identification of Arctic marine areas of heightened ecological significance ..................... 81 5.3 Joint OSPAR/NEAFC/CBD Scientific Workshop on the Identification of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) in the North-East Atlantic .................................................... 82 5.4 IUCN/NRDC Workshop to Identify EBSAs in the Arctic