Divulgação

Palestra - "Deep-Sea Marine Resources of the United States: No Longer “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”.

Data: 2013-05-31 03:00 PM
Orador/Formador: Robert J. Brock
Local: IPMA Algês Lisboa
Contacto email:
Contacto telefónico: 214770000

At 11,351,000 km2, the United States of America (USA) possesses the largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the world. In the USA, deep-sea coral and sponge habitats have been discovered in all regions on continental shelves and slopes, canyons, and seamounts. Their full spatial extent is still unknown because most areas have yet to be adequately surveyed. Both scientific understanding and public awareness of the deep-sea are still in their infancy. Deep-sea habitats have begun to gain attention in the USA and internationally as important areas for biodiversity in need of conservation. In 2009, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began actively conducting scientific activities in the waters of the USA associated with deep-sea corals. NOAA has committed to take steps to better understand and conserve these deep-sea habitats and the communities associated with them. Nationwide, these complex structures provide habitat for many fish and invertebrate species. Using cutting-edge technology, scientists are finding coral and sponge habitats and documenting their associations with fish. From New England to Florida, from California to Alaska to Hawaii, NOAA is conducting three-year field efforts in each of seven regions to research, map, and characterize deep-sea coral habitats.  This seminar will present and briefly discuss some examples of various projects that NOAA and its partners are undertaking such as: (a) gathering commercial fishery data from the North Pacific Groundfish Observer Program to develop maps from coral and sponge bycatch data and spatial information; (b) assessing the management effectiveness of Alaska’s Aleutian Island Habitat Conservation Area closure, an area closed to any bottom fishing activities that may damage deep-sea corals; (c) creating GIS maps of commercial fishing effort for southeastern U.S. fisheries overlaid on top of baseline maps of deep-sea coral habitat to visually depict areas of habitat concern that are likely to be impacted by fishing effort; and (d) developing Habitat Suitability Models that enable scientists to be more refined in their search for likely locations of deep-sea coral beds.

The NOAA Deep Sea Coral Research and Technology Program is the nation’s only federal research program dedicated to increasing scientific understanding of deep-sea coral ecosystems and is designed to provide ocean resource managers with scientific studies to inform conservation actions.

Dr. Robert J. Brock is a Marine Biologist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Marine Protected Areas Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. Robert co-organized the 3rd International Symposium on Deep-Sea Corals (2005-Miami).  Robert has worked in various positions within the United States Government for his entire career. Robert holds a Bachelor of Science in Marine Ecology from Florida International University (Miami), Master of Science in Marine Biology from the Nova Southeast University Oceanographic Center (Dania Beach, FL) and a Ph.D. in Aquatic Ecology from the University of Florida.