ICES/NAFO Joint Working Group on Deep-water Ecology (WGDEC).

The joint ICES/NAFO Working Group on Deep-water Ecology (WGDEC) deals with the biology and conservation of deep-sea habitats in the North Atlantic. Working Group experts collate new information on the distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) and fishing activities within ICES ecoregions (including the NEAFC Convention Area) and the NAFO Convention Area for use in ICES advisory processes. This information assists the development of new methods to improve the understanding of deep-sea ecosystems and informs the implementation of management tools to afford the protection of VMEs.

During the 2023 meeting, WGDEC reviewed new information on the occurrence and distribution of VMEs, VME indicator taxa and VME elements that were submitted in response to the ICES VME data call (March 2023), including those arising in the NEAFC Convention Area, as well as subareas of the Regulatory Area that are closed to fishing for other purposes than VME protection.

New data on VMEs is available from areas within the Oceanic Northeast Atlantic and the Celtic Seas ecoregions. A total of 195 new VME presence records and 70 absence records were accepted into the ICES VME database. Of those, twenty-two VME indicator records were reported from the portion of Rockall Bank that lies within the NEAFC Regulatory Area. No VME records were reported from other areas beyond national jurisdictions in 2023.

All new validated data and outputs of the VME Weighting algorithm, displaying the likelihood of VME presence (VME Index), were mapped to support ICES in providing advice on the distribution of VMEs in the North Atlantic. New VMS data from NEAFC was analysed by the Working Group on Spatial Fisheries Data (WGSFD), and outputs were used by WGDEC to assess whether fishing activity was occurring in the vicinity of VMEs in the NEAFC Convention Area.