NW pacific deep-sea benthos distribution and abundance (Beneficial Project)

The aim of this dataset is to deliver a sound biogeographic baseline study of the NW Pacific area including our available data from the Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk, Kuril-Kamchatka Trench (KKT), Aleutian Trench (AT), SW Bering Sea, and the NW Pacific open abyssal plain. We aim at compiling a novel book on the biogeography of the NW Pacific faunas, which will also provide information on highly abundant key species which might potentially invade the Arctic Ocean in future under decreasing sea-ice conditions. Thus our data will be ?beneficial? for the assessment of state and quality of the Arctic marine ecosystem in a changing environment.