Overview

Many fish stocks and other biological resources in the upper ocean (above 200 m) have declined over the past half-century due to overharvesting and cumulative habitat degradation. As a result, fishing activities have expanded into deeper waters, often beyond national jurisdiction. Advances in technology have increased access to deep-ocean fish populations, in some cases before adequate science-based management measures have been developed or implemented. The consequences can be severe, as demonstrated by the collapse of some deep-sea fisheries, including orange roughy.

Deep-sea fisheries can also have significant impacts on vulnerable habitats such as seamounts and cold-water coral ecosystems. As demand for marine resources continues to grow, effective international cooperation and precautionary management are essential to ensure the long-term sustainability of deep-ocean ecosystems.

Our Focus

The Fisheries Working Group promotes science-based and precautionary approaches to the management of deep-ocean fisheries across multiple governance regimes. Key areas of interest include:

• Recovery of deep-sea ecosystems following disturbance.
• Understanding mismatches between the scale of scientific studies and the scale of human impacts.
• Application of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VME) criteria across different deep-sea biomes.
• Identifying trends and knowledge gaps in deep-sea fisheries and fish stocks.
• Distinguishing natural variability from human-induced change.
• Managing expectations and outcomes associated with Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
• Monitoring, management and governance of deep-sea fisheries.
• Interactions between fisheries, biodiversity conservation and deep-sea mining.