Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T08:47:16.224Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cold-water corals landed by bottom longline fisheries in the Azores (north-eastern Atlantic)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2012

Í. Sampaio ,
A. Braga-Henriques ,
C. Pham ,
O. Ocaña ,
V. de Matos ,
T. Morato  and
F.M. Porteiro
Í. Sampaio*
Affiliation:
Centre of IMAR of the University of Azores Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, 9901-862 Horta, Azores, Portugal
A. Braga-Henriques
Affiliation:
Centre of IMAR of the University of Azores Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, 9901-862 Horta, Azores, Portugal
C. Pham
Affiliation:
Centre of IMAR of the University of Azores Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, 9901-862 Horta, Azores, Portugal
O. Ocaña
Affiliation:
Fundación Museo del Mar, Autoridad Portuaria de Ceuta, Muelle Cañonero, 51001, North Africa, Ceuta, Spain
V. de Matos
Affiliation:
Centre of IMAR of the University of Azores Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, 9901-862 Horta, Azores, Portugal
T. Morato
Affiliation:
Centre of IMAR of the University of Azores Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, 9901-862 Horta, Azores, Portugal
F.M. Porteiro
Affiliation:
Centre of IMAR of the University of Azores Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, 9901-862 Horta, Azores, Portugal
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Í. Sampaio Centre of IMAR of the University of Azores Department of Oceanography and Fisheries9901-862 Horta, Azores, Portugal email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The impact of bottom trawling on cold-water corals (CWC) has been thoroughly studied and shown to be long-lasting; however the effects of bottom longlining on CWC ecosystems have received little attention. The present paper identifies the principal CWC species landed by bottom longlining in Faial (Azores) from 150 to 600 m depth. Data were obtained from a survey of 297 landings during four months coupled with 16 interviews with fishermen. A distinction was made among corals brought on deck directly entangled in the fishing gear (primary by-catch) from corals brought up associated with other larger CWC species or rocks (secondary by-catch). Forty-five (15.2%) of 297 fishing trips surveyed landed coral specimens. The survey recorded 39 different CWC taxa in the by-catch, belonging to five different orders (Scleractinia, Alcyonacea, Antipatharia, Zoanthidea and Anthoathecata). Secondary by-catch included a larger number of species but the total number of corals was in the same order of magnitude for both groups. The taxa most frequently encountered were Leiopathes spp., Errina dabneyiand Dendrophyllia sp. CWC taxa in the by-catch were mostly medium size (10–60 cm), 3-dimensional and branched colonies. Local ecological knowledge of fishermen confirmed that the corals recorded were representative of their past experience and also revealed a general agreement that there has been a decrease of CWC by-catch on traditional fishing grounds. Corals are common by-catch in bottom longline fisheries around the Azores and so conservation measures may be required.

Keywords

cold-water coralsdeep-water fisheriesbottom longlineanthropogenic impactconservation
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 92 , Issue 7 , November 2012 , pp. 1547 - 1555
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adkins, J.F., Henderson, G.M., Wang, S.L., O'Shea, S. and Mokadem, F. (2004) Growth rates of the deep-sea Scleractinia Desmophyllum cristagalli and Enallopsammia rostrata . Earth and Planetary Science Letters 227, 481–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, A.H., Cailliet, G.M., Kerr, L.A., Coale, K.H., Lundstrom, C. and DeVogelaere, A.P. (2005) Investigations of age and growth for three deep-sea corals from the Davidson Seamount off central California. In Freiwald, A. and Roberts, J.M. (eds) Cold-water corals and ecosystems. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 1021–1038.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, O.F. and Clark, M.R. (2003) Analysis of by-catch in the fishery for orange roughy, Hoplostethus atlanticus, on the South Tasman Rise. Marine and Freshwater Research 54, 643–652.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asoh, K., Yoshikawa, T., Kosaki, R. and Marschall, E.A. (2004) Damage to cauliflower coral by monofilament fishing lines in Hawaii. Conservation Biology 18, 1645–1650.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bavestrello, G., Cerrano, C., Zanzi, D. and Cattaneo-Vietti, R. (1997) Damage by fishing activities to the gorgonian coral Paramuricea clavata in the Ligurian Sea. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 7, 253–262.3.0.CO;2-1>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bayer, F.M. (1981) Key to the genera of Octocorallia exclusive of Pennatulacea (Coelenterata: Anthozoa), with diagnoses of new taxa. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 94, 902–947.Google Scholar
Braga-Henriques, A., Carreiro-Silva, M., Tempera, F., Porteiro, F.M., Jakobsen, K., Jakobsen, J., Albuquerque, M. and Santos, R.S. (2011) Carrying behaviour in the deep-sea crab Paromola cuvieri (north-east Atlantic). Marine Biodiversity. doi:10.1007/s12526-011-0090-3.Google Scholar
Breeze, H., Davis, D.S., Butler, M. and Kostylev, V. (1997) Distribution and status of deep-sea corals off Nova Scotia. Marine Issues Committee Special Publication 1. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Ecology Action Center.Google Scholar
Brito, A. and Ocaña, O. (2004) Corales de las Islas Canarias. La Laguna: Francisco Lemos Editor.Google Scholar
Buhl-Mortensen, L. and Mortensen, P.B. (2005) Distribution and diversity of species associated with deep-sea gorgonian corals off Atlantic Canada. In Freiwald, A. and Roberts, J.M. (eds) Cold-water corals and ecosystems. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 849–879.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caldeira, K. and Wickett, M.E. (2003) Anthropogenic carbon and ocean pH: the coming centuries may see more ocean acidification than the past 300 million years. Nature 425, 365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carreiro-Silva, M., Braga-Henriques, A., Sampaio, Í., de Matos, V., Porteiro, F.M. and Ocaña, O. (2011) Isozoanthus primnoidus, a new species of zoanthid (Cnidaria: Zoantharia) associated with the gorgonian Callogorgia verticillata (Cnidaria: Alcyonacea). ICES Journal of Marine Sciences 68, 408–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carvalho, N., Edwards-Jones, G. and Isidro, E. (2011) Defining scale in fisheries: small versus large-scale fishing operations in the Azores. Fisheries Research 109, 360–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chuenpagdee, R., Morgan, L.E., Maxwell, S.M., Norse, E.A. and Pauly, D. (2003) Shifting gears: assessing collateral impacts of fishing methods in US waters. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 1, 517–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, M.R. and O'Driscoll, R. (2003) Deep water fisheries and aspects of their impact on seamount habitat in New Zealand. Journal of Northwest Atlantic Fishery Science 31, 441–458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, M.R. and Koslow, J.A. (2007) Impacts of fishing on seamounts. In Pitcher, T.J., Morato, T., Hart, P.J.B., Clark, M.R., Haggan, N. and Santos, R.S. (eds) Seamounts: ecology, fisheries and conservation. Oxford: Blackwell Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Series, Blackwell Scientific, pp. 413–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, M.R. and Rowden, A.A. (2009) Effect of deepwater trawling on the macroinvertebrate assemblages of seamounts on the Chatham Rise, New Zealand. Deep-Sea Research I 56, 1540–1554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, M.R., Tittensor, D., Rogers, A.D., Brewin, P., Schlander, T., Rowden, A., Stocks, K. and Consalvey, M. (2006) Seamounts, deep-sea corals and fisheries: vulnerability of deep-sea corals to fishing on seamounts beyond areas of national jurisdiction. Cambridge, UK: UNEP–WCMC, 80 pp.Google Scholar
Clark, M.R., Rowden, A.A., Schlacher, T., Williams, A., Consalvey, M., Stocks, K.I., Rogers, A.D., O'Hara, T.D., White, M., Shank, T.M. and Hall-Spencer, J.M. (2010) The ecology of seamounts: structure, function and human impacts. Annual Review of Marine Science 2, 253–278.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costello, M.J., McCrea, M., Freiwald, A., Lundälv, T., Jonsson, L., Bett, B.J., van Weering, T.C.E., de Haas, H., Roberts, J.M. and Allen, D. (2005) Role of cold-water Lophelia pertusa coral reefs as fish habitat in the north-east Atlantic. In Freiwald, A. and Roberts, J.M. (eds) Cold-water corals and ecosystems. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 771–805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, A.J., Roberts, J.M. and Hall-Spencer, J.M. (2007) Preserving deep-sea natural heritage: emerging issues in offshore conservation and management. Biological Conservation 138, 299–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durán-Muñoz, P., Murillo, F.J., Sayago-Gil, M., Serrano, A., Laporta, M., Otero, I. and Gómez, C. (2011) Effects of deep-sea bottom longlining on the Hatton Bank fish communities and benthic ecosystem, north-east Atlantic. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 91, 939–952.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edinger, E., Baker, K., Devillers, R. and Wareham, V. (2007a) Coldwater corals in Newfoundland and Labrador waters: distribution and fisheries impacts. Canada: WWF, 41 pp.Google Scholar
Edinger, E.N., Wareham, V.E. and Haedrich, R.L. (2007b) Patterns of groundfish diversity and abundance in relation to deep-sea coral distributions in Newfoundland and Labrador waters. Bulletin of Marine Sciences 81(Supplement 1), 101–122.Google Scholar
European Commission (EC) (2005) Council Regulation (EC) No 1568/2005 of 20 September 2005 amending the Regulation (EC) N0 850/98 of European Union, L-252: 2.Google Scholar
FAO (2009) International guidelines for the management of deep-sea fisheries in the High Seas. FAO: Rome, 73 pp.Google Scholar
Fosså, J.H., Mortensen, P.B. and Furevik, D.M. (2002) The deep-water coral Lophelia pertusa in Norwegian waters: distribution and fishery impacts. Hydrobiologia 471, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freiwald, A., Fosså, J.H., Grehan, A., Koslow, T. and Roberts, J.M. (2004) Cold-water coral reefs. Out of sight–no longer out of mind. Cambridge, UK: UNEP–WCMC, 84 pp.Google Scholar
Genin, A., Dayton, P.K., Lonsdale, P.F. and Spiess, F.N. (1986) Corals on seamount peaks provide evidence of current acceleration over deep-sea topography. Nature 322, 59–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grasshoff, M. (1977) Die Gorgonaria des östlichen Nordatlantik und des Mittelmeeres. III. Die Familie Paramuriceidae (Cnidaria: Anthozoa). ‘Meteor’ Forschung-Ergebnisse (D) 27, 5–76.Google Scholar
Grasshoff, M. (1979) Neubeschreibung der Oktokoralle Paragorgia johnsoni Gray 1962 (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleraxonia). Senckenberg Biologica 60, 427–435.Google Scholar
Grasshoff, M. (1981) Gorgonaria und Pennatularia (Cnidaria: Anthozoa) vom Mittelatlantischen Rücken SW der Azoren. Steenstrupia 7, 213–230.Google Scholar
Grasshoff, M. (1986) Die Gorgonaria der Expeditionen von ‘Travailleur’ 1880–1882 und ‘Talisman’ 1883 (Cnidaria, Anthozoa). Bulletin du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris 8 (A 1), 9–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guinotte, J.M., Orr, J., Cairns, S., Freiwald, A., Morgan, L. and George, R. (2006) Will human-induced changes in seawater chemistry alter the distribution of deep-sea scleractinian corals? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 1, 141–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall-Spencer, J., Allain, V. and Fosså, J. (2002) Trawling damage to Northeast Atlantic ancient coral reefs. Proceedings of the Royal Society B—Biological Sciences 269, 507–511.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hall-Spencer, J., Rogers, A., Davies, J. and Foggo, A. (2007) Deep-sea coral distribution on seamounts, oceanic islands, and continental slopes in the Northeast Atlantic. Bulletin of Marine Sciences 81(Supplement 1), 135–146.Google Scholar
Hall-Spencer, J.M., Tasker, M., Soffker, M., Christiansen, S., Rogers, S., Campbell, M. and Hoydal, K. (2009) The design of Marine Protected Areas on High Seas and territorial waters of Rockall. Marine Ecology Progress Series 397, 305–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heifetz, J., Stone, R.P. and Shotwell, S.K. (2009) Damage and disturbance to coral and sponge habitat of the Aleutian Archipelago. Marine Ecology Progress Series 397, 295–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Husebø, A., Nottestand, L., Fosså, J.H., Furevik, D.M. and Jorgensen, S.B. (2002) Distribution and abundance of fish in deep-sea coral habitats. Hydrobiologia 471, 91–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, A. and Frederiksen, R. (1992) The fauna associated with the bank forming deepwater coral Lophelia pertusa (Scleractinaria) on the Faroe shelf. Sarsia 77, 53–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kilpatrick, R., Ewing, G., Lamb, T., Welsford, D. and Constable, A. (2011) Autonomous video camera system for monitoring impacts on benthic habitats from demersal fishing gear including longlines. Deep-Sea Research I. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2011.02.006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Guilloux, E., Hall-Spencer, J.M., Söffker, M.K. and Olu, K. (2010) Association between the squat lobster Gastroptychus formosus and cold-water corals in the North Atlantic. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 90, 1363–1369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marschal, C., Garrabou, J., Harmelin, J.G. and Pichon, M. (2004) A new method for measuring growth and age in the precious red coral Corallium rubrum (L.). Coral Reefs 23, 423–432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morato, T., Guénette, S. and Pitcher, T. (2001) Fisheries of the Azores, 1982–1999. In Zeller, D. Watson, R., Pitcher, T. and Pauly, D. (eds) Fisheries impacts on North Atlantic ecosystems: catch, effort and national/regional data sets. University of British Columbia: Fisheries Centre Research Reports, pp. 214–220.Google Scholar
Morato, T., Pitcher, T.J., Clark, M.R., Menezes, G., Tempera, F., Porteiro, F., Giacomello, E. and Santos, R.S. (2010) Can we protect seamount for research? A call for conservation. Oceanography 23, 190–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morato, T., Watson, R., Pitcher, T.J. and Pauly, D. (2006) Fishing down the deep. Fish and Fisheries 7, 24–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, L., Etnoyer, P., Scholz, A., Mertens, M. and Powell, M. (2005) Conservation and management implications of deep-sea coral and fishing effort distributions in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. In Freiwald, A. and Roberts, J.M. (eds) Cold-water corals and ecosystems. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 1171–1187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norse, E.A., Brooke, S., Cheung, W.W.L., Clark, M.R., Ekeland, I., Froese, R., Gjerde, K.M., Haedrich, R.L., Heppell, S.S., Morato, T., Morgan, L.E., Pauly, D., Sumaila, R. and Watson, R. (2012) Sustainability of deep-sea fisheries. Marine Policy 36, 307–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OSPAR (2010) Background document for coral gardens. Publication number: 486/2010. ISBN 978-1-907390-27-2Google Scholar
Parker, S.J. and Bowden, D. (2009) Identifying taxonomic groups as vulnerable to bottom longline fishing gear in the Ross Sea region. Paper presented to CCAMLR VME workshop 2009.Google Scholar
Pinho, M.R. and Menezes, G. (2006) Azorean deepwater fishery: ecosystem, species, fisheries and management approach aspects. In Shotton, R. (ed.) Proceedings of Deep Sea 2003: Conference on the Governance and Management of Deep-sea Fisheries. Part 2: Conference poster papers and workshop papers, Queenstown, New Zealand, 1–5 December 2003. Rome: FAO, pp. 330–43.Google Scholar
Prouty, N.G., Roark, E.B., Buster, N.A. and Ross, S.W. (2011) Growth rate and age distribution of deep-sea black corals in the Gulf of Mexico. Marine Ecology Progress Series 423, 101–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roark, E.B., Guilderson, T.P., Dunbar, R.B., Fallon, S.J. and Mucciarone, D.A. (2009) Extreme longevity in proteinaceous deep-sea corals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106, 5204–5208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, J.M., Wheeler, A.J. and Freiwald, A. (2006) Reefs of the deep: the biology and geology of cold-water coral ecosystems. Science 312, 543–547.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, J.M., Wheeler, A.J., Freiwald, A. and Cairns, S. (2009) Cold-water corals: the biology and geology of deep-sea coral habitats. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, A.D., Baco, A., Griffiths, H., Hart, T. and Hall-Spencer, J.M. (2007) Corals on seamounts. In Pitcher, T.J., Morato, T., Hart, P.J.B., Clark, M.R., Haggan, N. and Santos, R.S. (eds) Seamounts: ecology, fisheries and conservation. Oxford: Blackwell Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Series, Blackwell Scientific, pp. 141–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santos, R.S., Hawkins, S.J., Monteiro, L.R., Alves, M. and Isidro, E.J. (1995) Marine research resources and conservation in the Azores. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 5, 311–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherwood, O.A. and Edinger, E. (2009) Ages and growth rates of some deep-sea gorgonian and antipatharian corals of Newfoundland and Labrador. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 66, 142–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shester, G. and Ayers, J. (2005) A cost-effective approach to protecting deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems with an application to Alaska's Aleutian Islands region. In Freiwald, A. and Roberts, J.M. (eds) Cold-water corals and ecosystems. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 1151–1169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silva, H.M. and Pinho, M.R. (2007) Exploitation, management and conservation: small-Scale fishing on seamounts. In Freiwald, A. and Roberts, J.M. (eds) Cold-water corals and ecosystems. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 333–399.Google Scholar
Sissenwine, M.P. and Mace, P.M. (2007) Can deep water fisheries be managed sustainably? Report and Documentation of the Expert Consultation on Deep-Sea fisheries in the High Seas. FAO Fisheries Report 838, pp. 61–111.Google Scholar
Söffker, M., Sloman, K.A. and Hall-Spencer, J.M. (2011) In situ observations of fish associated with coral reefs off Ireland. Deep-Sea Research I—Oceanographic Research Papers 58, 818–825.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tempera, F., Giacomello, E., Mitchell, N.C., Campos, A.S., Braga-Henriques, A., Bashmachnikov, I., Martins, A., Mendonça, A., Morato, T., Colaço, A., Porteiro, F.M., Catarino, D., Gonçalves, J., Pinho, M.R., Isidro, E.J., Santos, R. S. and Menezes, G. (2012). Mapping the Condor seamount seafloor environment and associated biological assemblages (Azores, NE Atlantic). In Harris, P.T. and Baker, E.K. (eds) Seafloor geomorphology as benthic habitat: Geohab Atlas of Seafloor Geomorphic Features and Benthic Habitats. London: Elsevier, pp. 807–818.Google Scholar
Waller, R., Watling, L., Auster, P. and Shank, T. (2007) Anthropogenic impacts on the Corner Rise Seamounts, north-west Atlantic Ocean. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 87, 1075–1076.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welsford, D. and Kilpatrick, R. (2008) Estimating the swept area of demersal longlines based on in-situ video footage. Document WG-FSA-08/58. CCAMLR, Hobart, Australia.Google Scholar
Yoshikawa, T. and Asoh, K. (2004) Entanglement of monofilament fishing lines and coral death. Biological Conservation 117, 557–560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zibrowius, H. (1980) Les scléractiniaires de la Méditerranée et de l'Atlantique nord-oriental. Mémoires de l'Institute Océanographique de Monaco 11, 1–284.Google Scholar
Zibrowius, H. and Cairns, S.D. (1992) Revision of the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Stylasteridae (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa). Mémoires du Muséum Naturelle d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris 153, 1–36.Google Scholar