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Identification of Important Seamount Areas in the Offshore Pacific Bioregion, Canada

Regional Peer Review – Pacific Region

November 25-26, 2020
Virtual meeting

Chairperson: Katie Gale

Context

Canada’s Oceans Act provides the legislative framework for an integrated ecosystem approach to manage oceans, particularly in areas considered ecologically or biologically significant. To guide efforts, in 2015, Canada adopted international and domestic 2020 Biodiversity Goals and Targets. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 (reformatted as Target 1 of the 2020 Biodiversity Goals and Targets for Canada) calls for the conservation of 10% of coastal and marine areas by 2020 (CBD 2020). Under the Oceans Act, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is legislated to provide protection to areas of the oceans and coasts through the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), where the identification of an Area of Interest (AOI) is the first step in this process.

In 2017, DFO identified the southern portion of the Offshore Pacific Bioregion (OPB) as an AOI, in anticipation of a proposed Marine Protected Area (MPA). The proposed Offshore Pacific MPA would contribute to the protection and conservation of the region’s unique seamounts and hydrothermal vents. These Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) occur nowhere else in Canada other than the OPB, with the majority located inside the AOI (DFO 2019).

Seamounts are underwater volcanic mountains that rise abruptly above the deep abyssal and bathyal plains, dramatically altering environmental conditions. The OPB seamounts are known to provide habitat and food for species of conservation concern, as well as socially, culturally, and commercially valuable species, including cold-water corals and sponges, rockfish, halibut, whales, and seabirds (Ban et al. 2016; DFO 2019).

The DFO Oceans Program requested that Science Branch develop an evaluation, based on ecological criteria, to identify important areas on seamounts in the AOI. The following evaluation is based on a global seamount classification scheme (Clark et al. 2011) and the seamount Ecosystem Evaluation Framework (EEF) (Pitcher and Bulman 2007; Pitcher et al. 2007). It focuses on physical, oceanographic, and ecological seamount attributes. The classification scheme was developed to aid the scientific design of MPAs. The EEF was initially developed as a summary of the principal findings on seamount ecology, fisheries, and conservation to date. Both list important measurable attributes that interact to produce the range of seamount ecosystems. Since its initial development, the EEF has provided a standardized multidisciplinary list of parameters by which seamounts are characterized for consistent seamount ecosystem modeling, meta-analysis, and, for management, development of ecosystem-based plans (e.g., modified and used in Ban et al. 2016). The resulting evaluation is designed to identify areas with regionally rare, significant, or functionally important species, as well as assess the ecological uniqueness and ecosystem functions provided by each seamount allowing for the identification of natural seamount boundaries. To identify important seamount areas within a regional scope (i.e., the OPB), the evaluation includes all 62 Canadian seamounts.

The evaluation arising from this Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) Science Regional Peer Review (RPR) will guide management decisions for seamount conservation and protection within the Offshore Pacific AOI. It will also inform the future application of the Ecological Risk Assessment Framework (ERAF; O et al. 2015) related to the proposed Offshore Pacific MPA.

Objectives

The following working paper will be reviewed and provide the basis for discussion and advice on the specific objectives outlined below.

DuPreez, Cherisse and Norgard, Tammy. 2020. Identification of Important Seamount Areas in the Offshore Pacific Bioregion, Canada. CSAP Working Paper 2018OCN03

The specific objectives of this working paper are to:

Expected Publications

Expected Participation

References

Ban, S., Curtis, J.M.R., St. Germain, C., Perry, R. I., and Therriault, T.W. 2016. Identification of Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) in Canada’s Offshore Pacific Bioregion. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2016/034. x + 152 p.

CBD. 2020. Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

Clark, M.R., Watling, L., Rowden, A.A., Guinotte, J.M., and Smith, C.R. 2011. A global seamount classification to aid the scientific design of marine protected area networks. Ocean Coast. Manage. 54(1):19-36.

DFO. 2019. Biophysical and ecological overview of the offshore Pacific area of Interest (AOI). DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Sci. Resp. 2019/011.

O, M., Martone, R., Hannah, L., Greig, L., Boutillier, J. and Patton, S. 2015. An ecological risk assessment framework (ERAF) for ecosystem-based oceans management in the Pacific Region. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2014/072. vii + 59 p.

Pitcher, T.J., and Bulman, C. 2007. Raiding the larder: a quantitative evaluation framework and trophic signature for seamount food webs. In Seamounts: Ecology, fisheries and conservation. Edited by T.J. Pitcher and T. Morato and P.J.B. Hart and M.R. Clark and N. Haggan and R.S. Santos. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. pp. 282-295.

Pitcher, T.J., Morato, T., Hart, P.J., Clark, M.R., Haggan, N., and Santos, R.S. 2007. The depths of ignorance: an ecosystem evaluation framework for seamount ecology, fisheries and conservation. In Seamounts: ecology, fisheries, and conservation. Blackwell Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Series. Edited by T.J. Pitcher and T. Morato and P.J.B. Hart and M.R. Clark and N. Haggan and R.S. Santos. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. pp. 476-488.

Notice

Participation to CSAS peer review meetings is by invitation only.

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