ERI Theme II: Spatial Patterns in Benthic Communities Leads: Peter Lawton (SABS) and Stephen Smith (BIO) Collaborators: Daniel Duplissea (IML); Vlad Kostylev, Brian Todd, Russ Parrott (NRCan); Gerard Costello (CHS); Ellen Kenchington, Claudio DiBacco (BIO) Project team: Michelle Greenlaw, Jessica Sameoto, Pierre Clement, Robert Benjamin, Jaime Vickers

Why Benthic Habitat? Need to understand role of benthic habitat features in maintaining population productivity and biodiversity Vulnerability to various types of perturbation are of particular concern Need to identify and evaluate performance of decision rules designed to protect benthic ecosystem components Elements of disturbance, sensitivity and connectivity can be encapsulated by this approach. Many current research initiatives in this field (within and outside of DFO) - opportunities to collaborate

Synergies Being Explored Canadian Healthy Oceans Network – Discovery Corridor cruises in 2009 and 2010 Census of Marine Life –CoML’s Gulf of Maine Area Program –CoML Synthesis Project (Lawton and R. Pitcher, CSIRO) on use of physical surrogates to predict benthic diversity); Seabed Mapping in the Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy –Natural Resources Canada-led; Scallop fishing area (SFA) 29 multi-beam project follow-up –NRCan, DFO Science and CHS, all at BIO; Coastal ecosystem research and decision support work –Coastal Ocean Research Section (SABS); Initial national program objectives for the Centre for Expertise on Aquatic Habitat Research (CEAHR).

Initial Activities (FY 2007–08) Planning workshop at BIO to review candidate models (Kostylev, Hiddink, etc.) and determine data requirements. Commenced compilation of available benthic data (physical and biological) into a GIS framework so that spatial boundaries which maximize the amount of known data for modelling can be selected. Investments made in regional benthic video survey tools (TowCam, Urchin and fibre optic cable equipment).

Subsequent Project Years (FY 2008–09 to 2010–11) Data compilation and modelling/analysis –interview-based survey of ERI project participants’ data requirements  data consolidation to support ecosystem-level projects –Geo-referenced database of all relevant data for the Gulf of Maine benthic project –Maps of the overlaying of data layers to determine the target areas for testing the model Regional benthic survey capacities –Regional consolidation of benthic survey systems  maintenance and development requirements; –Operational capacity to deploy several different survey systems depending on spatial context and benthic sampling requirements (depth range, spatial coverage, video and/or in situ sampling, benthic community metrics required).

Subsequent Project Years (FY 2008–09 to 2010–11), cont’d Model development and research design for empirical tests –leverage participation in CoML synthesis project to summarize the extent to which physical surrogates explain biological patterns of benthic/demersal biota (GOM, GOMex, GBR: Workshop held at BIO, Sep 20 – Oct 5, 2008). –convene a larger workshop late in FY 2008–09 to focus on more specific modelling approaches, inviting a number of national and international scientists. –Fund participation in ICES study group on fisheries optical survey approaches and WG on marine habitat mapping

Subsequent Project Years (FY 2008–09 to 2010–11), cont’d Empirical testing of predictive models, data analysis & further development of benthic reference points –Planning on field work for 2009/2010 (number of options) to groundtruth the models being developed. Project synthesis and extension/application development –generate additional hypotheses and proposals to use this evolved benthic system modelling capacity. –Emerging outputs and linkages with the other two ERI themes will be explored, –opportunities to link the analysis of spatial structure of benthic communities to questions of connectance between areas, links to MPA design and performance metrics

Example Application: SFA 29 Geophysical map from Joint project with SCI/ CHS/NRCan. Layers: bathymetry, current speed, annual survey catches, observer data on bycatch, commercial catch data Exploitation indicators, i.e., VMS, fishing log data.

Scallop survey in SFA 29

Cumulative VMS (pings, 0<speed<4 kts)

Products  Enhanced prediction of spatial patterns of community types; array of spatial management tools including MPAs. [Healthy and Productive Aquatic Ecosystems (HAPAE)]  Enhanced understanding of sensitivity of diverse benthic communities to disturbance; habitat disturbance reference points [HAPAE]  Ecological footprint of fishing; fisheries management planning tool. [Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture (SFA)]  Impact of fishing gear on the Gulf of Maine benthic communities [SFA, HAPAE]  Effectiveness of the Northeast Channel deep-sea coral closure area for protection of this habitat type, and the goals of the “Coral Conservation Plan” [HAPAE]