NEAFC request on vulnerable marine ecosystems in the NEAFC Regulatory Areas, in relation to the NEAFC 5-year review of Recommendation 19:2014

This advice pertains to the period January 2019 to September 2024. It comprises reviews of five subjects related to NEAFC Recommendation 19:2014 and an assessment of whether Recommendation 19:2014 has been effective in protecting vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in the NEAFC regulatory areas.

A review by ICES of ICES advice to NEAFC from 2019 to 2024 concluded that the advice covered three broad topics: (a) suitability of existing closed areas for the protection of VMEs, (b) locations of new records of VME habitats and VME indicators, and (c) distribution of fishing activity.

A review by ICES of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions, as well as other policies and recommendations, demonstrated that changes in scientific understanding that may impact future evidence and advice related to VMEs include (a) the use of modelling, updated indicator lists, and inference to assess where VMEs and associated and dependent species are likely to be present; (b) identification of locations where VMEs may be resilient to climate change and ocean acidification; and (c) improved understanding of connectivity.

A review by ICES of UNGA resolutions and other policies and recommendations, focusing on the assessment of and evidence for significant adverse impacts (SAIs), illustrates an increased emphasis on assessing risks to VMEs and consideration of associated and dependent species. ICES observes that there are few studies linking encounter threshold levels to bottom-fishing impacts on VMEs and hence to a defined risk of SAI. This, and other factors, prevent the effective assessment of the management measures.

A review by ICES of international science developments of relevance to the implementation of Recommendation 19:2014 identified two topics as highly relevant: (a) capacity to predict probability of VME occurrence and effects of climate change on VMEs through species distribution modelling (SDM) and habitat suitability modelling (HSM), and (b) assessment of fishing activity and impacts. These developments have potential to provide a basis for assessing the probability of VME occurrence and assessing the probability and magnitude of bottom-fishing impacts, including risk of SAI.

ICES assessed the effectiveness of NEAFC Recommendation 19:2014 in protecting VMEs and advises:

• That NEAFC Recommendation 19:2014 has been effective in protecting VMEs in both the NEAFC closed areas and in the NEAFC restricted bottom-fishing areas from SAI.

• That ICES has insufficient evidence to assess whether NEAFC Recommendation 19:2014 has been effective in protecting VMEs in the NEAFC bottom-fishing areas.

ICES reviewed the list of VME habitat types and representative taxa in Annex 5 of Recommendation 19-2014 and advises on changes and additions. ICES noted the relatively high rates of change in knowledge of deep-sea and VME species, their taxonomies and nomenclature. For this reason, reviews and updates to the list of VME habitat types and representative taxa at 5-year intervals are suggested.