Towards a scientific community consensus on designating Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems from imagery

Area of Science:

• Marine Biology
• Deep-Sea Ecology
• Fisheries Management

Background:

• Regional Fisheries Management Organizations/Arrangements (RFMO/As) manage deep-sea fisheries beyond national jurisdiction, requiring identification of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs).
• Current VME identification relies heavily on invasive fisheries data (trawl/longline bycatch), necessitating non-invasive alternatives for monitoring.
• Existing protocols for identifying VMEs from imagery data are inconsistent, lacking a standardized framework.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish preliminary global consensus guidelines for identifying VMEs using imagery data.
• To assess current VME assessment protocols across different RFMO/A regions.
• To develop a decision-making framework for VME identification from single images.

Main Methods:

• Convened an international team to review VME assessment protocols.
• Analyzed imagery data to identify VME indicator taxa and assess density thresholds.
• Developed a decision flow chart for interpreting FAO criteria for VME identification from images.

Main Results:

• Identified significant inconsistencies in VME indicator taxa definitions across RFMO/A regions.
• Determined that VMEs can be identified from single images in specific cases (e.g., reefs, gardens, chemosynthetic ecosystems).
• Observed considerable variation in perceived density thresholds for VMEs, though statistical differences were noted between VME and non-VME images.

Conclusions:

• A global consensus on VME indicator taxa is needed.
• RFMO/As should adopt imagery surveys as a complementary or alternative method for VME designation.
• Imagery surveys are recommended for Impact Assessments and for all seafloor-impacting industries to detect and identify VMEs.