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The Social and Cultural Value of Deep-Sea Sponges

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The Social and Cultural Value of Deep-Sea Sponges SponGES POLICY BRIEF ©Fisheries and Oceans Canada The social and cultural value of deep-sea sponges eep-sea sponges inhabit very remote areas, which are difficult Dto access and to study. For centuries, the deep-sea seafloor was almost considered as bare soil hosting very little biodiversity. However, this perception radically changed when, through advances in technology, deep-sea sponge aggregations were discovered. The first sponge ground was detected in 1987 around the Faroe Islands and the occurrence of scattered deep-sea sponge grounds was later confirmed in several other areas of the Northeast Atlantic (Klitgaard and Tendal, 2004). These discoveries sparked a debate, within the international community, on how to reconcile the conservation of sponge grounds with ongoing economic extractive activities in the deep sea. Today the relevance and the vulnerability of deep-sea sponge grounds are widely recognized at the international level. SponGES has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 679849. This document reflects only the author’s view – the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. Deep-sea sponge grounds are classified as Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) BOX 1 Plurality of values held (FAO, 2009), are considered ecologically and towards natural biologically significant areas (UNEP-WCMC, ecosystems 2010), and since 2008 are included in the Oslo- Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine • Direct use values: are related to benefits Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR received from direct utilization. The convention) (OSPAR, 2008). utilization could lead to consumptive or Government representatives, gathered non-consumptive uses. in the United Nations General Assembly, • Indirect use values: are related to committed to taking actions to protect VMEs by the benefits received from ecosystem reducing adverse impacts caused by bottom maintenance. fisheries in international waters (high seas) • Option values: are related to benefits (UNGA, 2007; UNGA, 2009). Besides this that will be received in the future from recognition at the international level, what sort both direct and indirect uses. of values could different individuals place on • Bequest values: are related to deep-sea sponges? benefits that will be received by future generations. Possible benefits and • Altruistic values: are related to benefits values associated to that will be received by others. • Existence values: are related to benefits deep-sea sponges received by knowing that the ecosystem Values express the multifaceted way in which exists and will continue to exist. nature, ecosystems, or ecosystems services are considered important by individuals and social groups. Individuals can hold a plurality of values • the microscopic geometric patterns found towards ecosystems according to the different in their spicules spark my creativity and my benefits received (Box 1). artwork; Below, examples of different values • I enjoy the beautiful underwater landscapes associated to the existence of deep-sea sponges they create in the deep sea; are listed. As shown, reasons for which deep- • they are living examples of primitive life forms; sea sponges could be valued could greatly they are incredibly intriguing organisms to differ. • study, characterized by an amazing complexity DIRECT USE VALUE – CONSUMPTIVE which is yet to be unraveled; I feel reverence and respect for the ocean and I value deep-sea sponges because: • • different anticancer drugs commercially available all its life forms. are derived from natural compounds found in sponges. INDIRECT USE VALUE I value deep-sea sponges because: DIRECT USE VALUE – NON-CONSUMPTIVE • they provide a habitat for a variety of other marine organisms; I value deep-sea sponges because: • being out in the ocean and exploring them • they are essential habitats for the fish I eat; through underwater oceanographic instruments • they contribute to the regulation of biochemical is an extraordinary experience; processes in the deep sea. 2 OPTION USE VALUE FIGURE 1 Economic valuation of ecosystem services lies at the interface among I value deep-sea sponges because: economic, ecological, social and • they are a potential source of new cultural dimensions pharmaceuticals and new therapies which could prove to be effective for treating serious or life- threatening diseases; • in the future, biosilica bone-graft implants derived from deep-sea sponges may be useful Ecological Social and in healing my bone fractures, osteoporosis or value cultural value other bone defects; Economic valuation they have a great potential for providing future of ecosystem • services (still unknown) biotechnological innovations. NON USE VALUE (BEQUEST, ALTRUISTIC, Economic EXISTENCE) value I value deep-sea sponges because: • they are part of the natural heritage, which I would like to pass on to my children and my Source: Author’s elaboration grandchildren; • I would like all the benefits that they convey to be available to others; the non-material cultural benefits conveyed by • they are unique life forms in the deep sea. deep-sea sponges (in the social and cultural dimension). A large share of social and cultural values Plurality of values and often remain unaccounted for and are usually approaches needed related to cultural services that do not provide material or physical benefits, but rather The plurality of existing values towards benefits related to thoughts, beliefs, and natural ecosystems is not easily accounted emotional responses within the inner life of using a single approach. An economic an individual (Figure 2). Aesthetic experience, valuation, lying at the interface of economic, art inspiration, spiritual experience, and cultural ecological and social dimensions, is often heritage are all examples of cultural services. carried out to demonstrate the contribution of These nonmaterial benefits are by definition ecosystems to people’s wellbeing (Figure 1). intangible and subjective. Thus, they are very However, an economic valuation is usually difficult to capture and even more difficult to able to include only a limited number of quantify and to translate in monetary terms. ecosystem services due to data limitation. In the case of deep-sea sponges, the economic valuation carried out by FAO (2020a) Society’s interest towards could not comprehensively reflect: future option deep-sea sponges: first uses (in the economic dimension), the ecological relevance of deep-sea-sponges concurring to indications the maintenance of processes of the deep sea Deep-sea sponges raise great interest in the and threats and impacts generated by human scientific community. This interest peaked in activities (in the ecological dimension), and 2016, when 72 researchers, belonging to 3 FIGURE 2 Intangible values associated to deep- At the same time deep-sea sponges sea sponges can be expressed by could also be considered part of our world reflections and emotions belonging natural heritage. Some massive specimens, to the inner life of an individual. unique sponge grounds or reef formations clearly represent unique features in the The heart of a man is deep-sea (Figure 4). The World Heritage Convention, promoted by the United Nations very much like the sea Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization it has storms (UNESCO) and adopted in 1972, is an international agreement aimed to protect our it has tides common cultural and natural heritage. For the and in its depths, preservation of the world natural heritage, the it has its pearls, too. Convention lists natural features, formations and natural sites of outstanding universal value. VINCENT VAN GOGH Some of the criteria used to select UNESCO natural sites can also be applied to marine ecosystems (Abdulla et al., 2013). While several Source: Author's elaboration. Photo: ©Fisheries and Oceans Canada coral reefs are already included among World Heritage marine sites, there is also potential for 25 different institutions from Canada, the inclusion of deep-sea sponges characterized by Unites States of America and Europe created a exceptional natural beauty (criterion vii), but also consortium under the SponGES project to make features contributing to exceptional ecological progress in the study of deep-sea sponges. or ocean processes (criterion ix) or those During the SponGES project, the supporting an exceptional level of biodiversity relevance of deep-sea sponges for scientific (criterion x). research and education was shown by the over 90 peer-reviewed publications, with an FIGURE 3 Inspiration provided by the average impact factor of 4.36, which recorded deep-sea sponge (Euplectella 23 522 reads on the Researchgate platform aspergillum) for the construction of (SponGES project, 2020). a famous skyscraper in London. However, the interest in deep-sea sponges is not confined to the scientific realm, but it is slowly percolating in other disciplines too. One example is found in modern architecture, in which the simulation of patterns, structures and processes observed in nature is used as an approach to finding innovative solutions (i.e. biomimicry). The skeleton of the deep-sea sponge (Euplectella aspergillum), known as the Venus' flower basket, with the helicoidal arrangement of its filaments, has given the inspiration for the London's Gherkin skyscraper designed by Foster and Partners (Davidson, 2020). Sources: left, ©FAO; right,
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