FAO technical paper: Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems: Processes and Practices in the High Seas

Kindly be informed that a new FAO technical paper “Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems: Processes and Practices in the High Seas”, is now available on-line.

This publication on” Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems: Processes and Practices in the High Seas” catalogues the achievements that have been made since 2006 on the identification and protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) from significant adverse impacts caused by fishing with bottom contact gears in the high seas. It is a consolidated output of the FAO VME Portal and DataBase (www.fao.org/in-action/vulnerable-marine-ecosystems/en/), which was requested by the UNGA in Resolution 61/105 (Paragraph 90) to support States and regional fisheries management organisations and arrangements (RFMO/As) in protecting VMEs.

The publication provides regional fisheries management bodies, States, and other interested parties with a summary of existing regional measures to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems from significant adverse impacts caused by deep-sea fisheries using bottom contact gears in the high seas. It compiles and summarizes information on the processes and practices of the regional fishery management bodies, with mandates to manage deep-sea fisheries in the high seas, to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems.

The publication includes a chapter on the Western Central Atlantic Ocean, the mandate area of the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC).