Guide of SEA SPECIES

IOL: EU sets quotas for exotic deep-sea species
Brussles - EU fisheries ministers thrashed out a deal on Tuesday setting quotas for deep-water fish, exotic but threatened species that are fast becoming an alternative to over-caught mainstays such as cod and hake, officials said..
With exotic names like orange roughy, black scabbardfish, blue ling and roundnose grenadier, Europe's deep-sea fish grow and reproduce far more slowly than fish in shallower waters and are more vulnerable to overfishing..
'It guarantees that we are taking effective action to protect these vulnerable species and over a timeframe that will not cause hardship for fishermen, ' he told a news conference..
Quotas for four of the nine species under discussion - black scabbardfish, alfonsinos, red seabream and forkbeards - will be rolled over from 2005 levels.
For deep-sea sharks and orange roughy, where the Commission had proposed 33 percent quota cuts over three years, the agreement was for 25 percent cuts over four years based on 2005 catch levels - meaning that these fisheries will be phased out..
Northern states, including Britain, Germany and Denmark, argued hard to save Europe's deep-sea fish from extinction and wanted to follow scientific advice to ban catches of tusk, blue ling, orange roughy, and black scabbardfish in certain areas..


SEA SPECIES

The microcopepod fauna in the Gulf of Aqaba, northern Red Sea: species diversity and distribution of Oncaeidae (Poecilostomatoida) -- Böttger-Schnack et al. 23 (9): 1029 -- Journal of Plankton
Schnack-Schiel 3 1 Marine Zoologie (fb2), Universität Bremen (nw2), Postfach 330440, D-28334 Bremen; 2 Postal Address: Moorsehdener Weg 8, D-24211 Rastorf-Rosenfeld, Germany; 3 Alfred-Wegener-Institut Für Polar- Und Meeresforschung, Postfach 120161, D-27568 Bremerhaven, Germany A total of 23 species and three groups of form variants of oncaeid copepods have been identified, which were collected in small mesh net samples taken along a transect from the northernmost Red Sea (>27°N) to the Gulf of Aqaba down to a maximum depth of 800 m.
Two of the species were present only in the Red Sea main basin, but were not recorded in the Gulf.
By comparing the present results with previously published data from the central and southern Red Sea a first assessment of the zoogeographical distribution of Oncaeidae in the entire Red Sea has been achieved.
The species diversity of Oncaeidae in the Gulf of Aqaba appears to be considerably lower compared to the southern Red Sea, where 31 oncaeid species and four groups of form variants have been found.
The observed latitudinal gradient in species numbers of Oncaeidae generally corresponds to the gradients observed for various other zooplankton taxa in the Red Sea.

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Center for Biological Diversity - The Bering Sea - Vertebrate Biodiversity Assessment
In a comprehensive assessment of the status of and threats to Bering Sea vertebrate species, the Center for Biological Diversity reviewed nearly 500 references from published and grey literature, online databases, and other information.
1) Compile as complete a list as possible of all Bering Sea vertebrate species.
2) Review available literature on the taxonomy, range, status, threats and abundance of all Bering Sea vertebrate species, and identify species of conservation concern.
3) Identify key threats to vertebrate species in the Bering Sea.
4) Identify significant gaps in knowledge on the status of species.
Based on this review, we determined that at least 549 vertebrate species live in the Bering Sea for all or part of the year, including 418 fish, 102 birds and 29 marine mammals.
We classified species’ status as non-imperiled, unknown or of conservation concern.
Species of concern were further classified as critically imperiled, imperiled or vulnerable.
Of the 549 vertebrate species in the Bering Sea, we determined that 335 (61%) have an unknown status, 148 (27%) appear to be non-imperiled, and 66 (12%) are of conservation concern.
Of the species of concern, 52 (79%) are vulnerable, nine (13.6%) are imperiled, and five (7.6%) are critically imperiled.

Benefits



Sustainability in Deep Sea Fisheries
MCBI has been involved in convening leading scientists to examine key issues regarding the sustainability of deep-sea fishing.
In 2006 we held a scientist workshop on what is known and unknown about the demography of deep-sea target species (e.g., orange roughy, grenadiers) and nontarget species (deep-sea sharks, corals and sponges) affected by deep-sea fishing.
The workshop focused on examining life-history and demographic characteristics of deep-sea species, both are vitally important factors that determine whether or not deep-sea species will be able to recover from to overfishing and seafloor disturbance.
Results of this work were presented at the 2007 American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in San Francisco at a session chaired by MCBI Chief Scientist, Lance Morgan, “ The World's Last Wildlife Hunt: Deep-Sea Fisheries .” .
A haul of orange roughy in a bottom trawl net being hauled onboard, Tasman Sea..
We explored the economic impacts of deep-sea fishing and invertebrate life history characteristics, with the goal of determining under what, if any, circumstances deep-sea species can be fished sustainably.
The idea was that if deep-sea species cannot be fished sustainably, fishermen would be compelled to rapidly deplete local populations to economic extinction and then move on to new areas, a process termed serial depletion, and that this finding would force governments and intergovernmental organizations that regulate fishing to adopt new and more stringent management measures for the high seas and deep waters within nation’s exclusive economic zones..

SEA SPECIES: