1. Images from NOAA Ocean Explorer: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/ please do not use images from this presentation without permission of source Deepsea Trawling: Blind Destruction of Last Frontier Rainer Froese Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (some slides courtesy of Karen Stocks and Daniel Pauly)

2. Fishing Down Marine Food Webs (Pauly et al. Science 1998)

3. (t/km 2 ) Biomass of Table Fish in 1900 Christensen et al. 2003

4. and in 2000…. Biomass of Table Fish in 2000 Christensen et al. 2003

5. Overfishing the Northeast Atlantic (Froese & Pauly 2003)

6. There is Life in the Deep However Most of the deepsea is unknown Undersea mountains (seamounts) are oases in the deep On some seamounts over 30% of the species occur nowhere else

7. Seamounts = Undersea Mountains Patton Seamount: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/

8. 30,000++ globally Image from ETOPO2, NGDC

9. Seabed Swath Mapping: Fishing Down Seamounts FAO 2004

10. Biologically Unique Living Fossils  This sea lily was thought extinct since 100 million years Long lived species This spicule is from a sponge 2 m tall and 440 years old  Images and age estimates from B. Richer de Forges and collaborators

11. Habitat Impacts Images: Dr. K. Sainsbury, CSIRO before trawling after trawling

12. The Trails of Destruction “Typical” deep seafloor courtesy F. Grassle

13. These Fish are Old

14. Deepsea Animals Are Typically Medium-sized carnivores Long-lived (some over 100 years) Late maturing (some with 30-50 years) Slow growing Vulnerable (typically only 5% per year may be taken) Mostly unknown (often bizarre)

15. Deep Sea Stocks after 20 Years of Modest Fishing Based on modeling by Morato et al. 2004

16. Deep Sea Fishing is Increasing FAO 2004

17. Deepsea Boom and Bust Watson & Morato 2004

18. Deepsea Fishing around Europe (ICES data 1998-2000) Country/SpeciesOrange roughy Trichiurids (H & L) Greenland halibut Faroe IslandsXXX FranceXX GermanyX IcelandX NorwayX PortugalXX SpainXX UKXX

19. Conclusions Deepsea trawling is –biologically unsustainable –environmentally unsustainable –economically unsustainable Thank You