“The fragility of seamount ecosystems, and the magnitude of threats they are facing, make an assessment of their management and protection needs an urgent task. This Atlas, a first step towards this process, will certainly help. However, the road is still long until the declaration of a coherent and representative network of marine protected areas covering deep sea and offshore marine environments", says Alain Jeudy de Grissac, Coordinator of the IUCN Mediterranean Marine Programme.
In coordination with relevant Mediterranean partners and specialized entities, in particular the Barcelona Convention constituency, the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean of FAO, the Agreement for the Conservation of Cetaceans ACCOBAMS and OCEANA, the IUCN centre for Mediterranean Cooperation aims at developing and reinforcing the network of open seas and deep seas experts and exchange of information for a better conservation and sustainable use of this important domain of the Mediterranean.
The seamount are defined as hotspots of biodiversity, greatly affecting the productivity of offshore ecosystems and the distribution of pelagic top predators.
Photos: Above, Map of the Eratosthenes Seamount (Chyprus, Eartern Mediterranean), Würt - UICN. Right, Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum) with open polyps waiting for food transported by the current. This Mediterranean species is considered the most precious coral species. The populations have been heavily harvested over hundreds of years. In 1984 the use of trawling for harvesting coral was been banned from Mediterranean opening an opportunity of management of the species. Gerick Bergsma/Marine Photobank.
This publication was financed by the MAVA Foundation
en.mava-foundation.org To view the report vist
portals.iucn.org/library/node/45816
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