an atlas of protected hydrothermal vents

Abstract Active hydrothermal vents are valued worldwide because of the importance of their biodiversity and their influence on scientific discovery and insight about life on Earth and elsewhere in the Universe. There exist at least 20 areas and area networks with conservation measures for deep-sea hydrothermal vents, established by 12 countries and three Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, in six oceanic regions. Area-based management tools (ABMT) implemented by these countries illustrate multiple categories and means of protection and management of these rare and vulnerable habitats. Some ABMTs only regulate bottom and deep-trawling fisheries activities, others manage additional activities such as mining, scientific research, and bioprospecting, while still others protect active hydrothermal vents through broad conservation interventions. This atlas summarizes the "who", "what", "when", "where" of protected hydrothermal vents worldwide and underscores recognition of the importance of hydrothermal-vent ecosystems by coastal States

SyPRID sampler: A large-volume, high-resolution, autonomous, deep-ocean precision plankton sampling system

AbstractThe current standard for large-volume (thousands of cubic meters) zooplankton sampling in the deep sea is the MOCNESS, a system of multiple opening–closing nets, typically lowered to within 50m of the seabed and towed obliquely to the surface to obtain low-spatial-resolution samples that integrate across 10s of meters of water depth. The SyPRID (Sentry Precision Robotic Impeller Driven) sampler is an innovative, deep-rated (6000m) plankton sampler that partners with the Sentry Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to obtain paired, large-volume plankton samples at specified depths and survey lines to within 1.5m of the seabed and with simultaneous collection of sensor data. SyPRID uses a perforated Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight (UHMW) plastic tube to support a fine mesh net within an outer carbon composite tube (tube-within-a-tube design), with an axial flow pump located aft of the capture filter. The pump facilitates flow through the system and reduces or possibly eliminates the bow wave at the mouth opening. The cod end, a hollow truncated cone, is also made of UHMW plastic and includes a collection volume designed to provide an area where zooplankton can collect, out of the high flow region. SyPRID attaches as a saddle-pack to the Sentry vehicle. Sentry itself is configured with a flight control system that enables autonomous survey paths to low altitudes. In its verification deployment at the Blake Ridge Seep (2160m) on the US Atlantic Margin, SyPRID was operated for 6h at an altitude of 5m. It recovered plankton samples, including delicate living larvae, from the near-bottom stratum that is seldom sampled by a typical MOCNESS tow. The prototype SyPRID and its next generations will enable studies of plankton or other particulate distributions associated with localized physico-chemical strata in the water column or above patchy habitats on the seafloor

Man and the Last Great Wilderness: Human Impact on the Deep Sea

The deep sea, the largest ecosystem on Earth and one of the least studied, harbours high biodiversity and provides a wealth of resources. Although humans have used the oceans for millennia, technological developments now allow exploitation of fisheries resources, hydrocarbons and minerals below 2000 m depth. The remoteness of the deep seafloor has promoted the disposal of residues and litter. Ocean acidification and climate change now bring a new dimension of global effects. Thus the challenges facing the deep sea are large and accelerating, providing a new imperative for the science community, industry and national and international organizations to work together to develop successful exploitation management and conservation of the deep-sea ecosystem. This paper provides scientific expert judgement and a semi-quantitative analysis of past, present and future impacts of human-related activities on global deep-sea habitats within three categories: disposal, exploitation and climate change. The analysis is the result of a Census of Marine Life – SYNDEEP workshop (September 2008). A detailed review of known impacts and their effects is provided. The analysis shows how, in recent decades, the most significant anthropogenic activities that affect the deep sea have evolved from mainly disposal (past) to exploitation (present). We predict that from now and into the future, increases in atmospheric CO2 and facets and consequences of climate change will have the most impact on deep-sea habitats and their fauna. Synergies between different anthropogenic pressures and associated effects are discussed, indicating that most synergies are related to increased atmospheric CO2 and climate change effects. We identify deep-sea ecosystems we believe are at higher risk from human impacts in the near future: benthic communities on sedimentary upper slopes, cold-water corals, canyon benthic communities and seamount pelagic and benthic communities. We finalise this review with a short discussion on protection and management methods

Tighten regulations on deep-sea mining

Extracting minerals from sea-floor vents should not go ahead without a coherent conservation framework, argues Cindy Lee Van Dover

Hydrothermal Vent Ecosystems and Conservation

A decade of Ridge 2000 and related research has yielded new and refined understanding of events and processes that occur on mid-ocean ridge and back-arc spreading centers, as reported in this special issue of Oceanography. Exciting exploration has also continued, with the past decade witnessing discovery of vent ecosystems in the Arctic (Pedersen et al., 2010), a new vent biogeographic province in the Southern Ocean (Rogers et al., 2012), and what may be a new vent province in the Caribbean, where the deepest known vent site was found on the Cayman Rise (Connelly et al., 2012). These recently discovered sites are home to many species new to science, some of which are especially strange in their abundance and distribution, including relatives of the yeti crab (Macpherson et al., 2006) reported from vents of the Scotia back arc (Rogers et al., 2012)

Population connectivity of the hydrothermal-vent limpet Shinkailepas tollmanni in the Southwest Pacific (Gastropoda: Neritimorpha: Phenacolepadidae).

The Southwest Pacific represents an independent biogeographic province for deep-sea hydrothermal vent fauna. Different degrees of genetic connectivity among vent fields in Manus, North Fiji and Lau Basins have been reported for various molluscan and crustacean species, presumably reflecting their different levels of dispersal ability as swimming larvae. The present study investigates the population connectivity of the hydrothermal vent limpet Shinkailepas tollmanni (family Phenacolepadidae) in the Southwest Pacific. Our analyses using mitochondrial COI-gene sequences and shell morphometric traits suggest a panmictic population structure throughout its geographic and bathymetric ranges, spanning 4,000 km from the westernmost Manus Basin (151ºE; 1,300 m deep) to the easternmost Lau Basin (176ºE; 2,720 m). The measurements of its embryonic and larval shells demonstrate that the species hatches as a planktotrophic veliger larva with an embryonic shell diameter of 170-180 μm and settles at the vent environment with the larval shell diameter of 750-770 μm. This substantial growth as a feeding larva, ca. 80 times in volume, is comparable or even greater than those of confamilial species in the hydrothermal-vent and methane-seep environments in the Northwest Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Large pigmented eyes in newly settled juveniles are another common feature in this and other phenacolepadids inhabiting the chemosynthetic environments. These results put together suggest that the larvae of S. tollmanni migrate vertically from deep-sea vents to surface waters to take advantages of richer food supplies and faster currents and stay pelagic for an extended period of time (> 1 year), as previously indicated for the confamilial species