Accurate reporting of benthic corals is increasingly important for mapping distributions and for the continued development of sustainable fisheries under the ecosystem approach. This coral identification guide is intended to help those on-board commercial and research fishing vessels to identify and record the various species of coral likely to be commonly encountered in fishing trawls. The guide is clear and simple to use, and will provide names to the majority of these beautiful bottomdwelling animals. The photographs are typically of caught specimens taken on the deck, as this gives the best picture of what is actually seen. Sadly, we rarely personally see corals in their natural habitat, except by looking at films and photos taken by deep underwater cameras.
Accurate reporting of sponges is increasingly important for mapping distributions and for the continued development of sustainable fisheries under the ecosystem approach. This Sponge Identification Guide is intended to help those on-board commercial and research fishing vessels to identify and record the various species of sponges likely to be commonly encountered in fishing trawls in the NRA. The guide is clear and simple to use, and will provide names to the majority of these bottom dwelling animals. The photographs are typically of caught specimens as seen on the deck. Development of the Sponge Identification Sheets Following the success of the previously-produced NAFO Coral Identification Guide (Kenchington et al.,
Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries (EAF) are seen as essential for sustaining fish stocks and fisheries over the long-term, and require the integration of ecosystem components, typically through multivariate and multifunction analyses. Large scale functional maps
showing the distribution of organisms with particular biological traits (e.g., deposit feeders, filter feeders, biogenic engineers, carbon sequesters, etc.) can provide a detailed spatial framework for incorporating benthic ecosystem function into an ecosystem services framework.
Building on this experience, here we propose that combining biological traits analyses (BTA) with seabed mapping can be used to identify areas according to dominant ecological function, which can provide a detailed spatial framework for considering ecosystem services within the overall EAF.
Furthermore, identification of the environmental determinants for each function could allow evaluating responses of the function to fishing and future climate change.
Based on the epibenthic invertebrate fauna from a bottom trawl research survey targeting groundfish in the Flemish Cap area (northwest Atlantic), functional maps with particular biological traits have been elaborated. The different ecological functions or ecosystem services represented on these maps
can be used, for example, to identify areas where biogenic process could represent an important regulator and driver of overall benthic productivity versus areas where physical factors may be more relevant for driving overall benthic production or they can help to identify areas where ecosystem
changes may have happened. These types of maps can be incorporated into the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) Roadmap as part of the assessment of ecosystem sustainability to achieve an EAF.
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