A Partnership to Develop and Implement a Strategy for Deep-Sea Coral Conservation in the Nothwest Atlantic

The Northeast Regional Office (NERO) and the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), in collaboration with the New England and Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Councils (NEFMC and MAFMC, respectively) and NOAA’s Deep-Sea Coral Research and Technology Program (DSCRTP), is developing and implementing a strategy for conserving deep-sea corals (DSC) in the Northwest Atlantic (NWA).  The goal of the initiative is to achieve effective, long-term habitat conservation in the highly fragile and vulnerable DSC ecosystems of the NWA utilizing existing management and scientific resources.  Management measures to conserve DSC and their habitats in the region are being developed by the NEFMC and will be included in an Essential Fish Habitat Omnibus Amendment which is scheduled for completion in 2013.   Coral protection zones currently being considered by the two Councils are located in a number of submarine canyons between Cape Hatteras and Georges Bank, on four New England seamounts, and in the Gulf of Maine.  Longer-term, NERO will also work with the Councils to implement the conservation strategy with federal offshore energy licensing agencies, such as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), using existing coordination and consultation procedures. 

Research currently being conducted by the NEFSC is designed to identify localized DSC ecosystems in the region and to develop and test a model that predicts the suitability of seafloor habitats in the region (in map form) based on historical DSC presence data and relevant environmental parameters.  Field research to date has focused on Hudson Canyon, the largest canyon on the outer continental shelf.  So far, none of the larger, more vulnerable, soft corals have been found in this canyon, but bathymetric surveys have revealed the presence of hard substrate “buttresses” in the sides of the main canyon and many side tributaries where deep-sea corals are more likely to be found.  The first version of the predictive model was developed in the spring of 2012 by the NEFSC in collaboration with NOAA’s National Ocean Service, with funding provided by the DSCRTP.  Plans are being made to develop version 2 of the model this year and to ground-truth some deep-sea coral “hotspots” predicted by the model.  The Northeast regional habitat initiative will continue through FY2015 and will further benefit from a three-year DSC research program to be funded by the DSCRTP in 2013.  The additional information generated by this project will allow the Councils to refine the original set of DSC protection zones in subsequent actions.