Impacts of trawling on benthic habitats in the subantarctic and high antarctic - Benthic Invertebrate Database

This project aims to assess the vulnerability of and risks to habitats in Australian fisheries in the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)/Australian Fishing Zone (AFZ) of the Southern Ocean to impacts by different demersal gears - trawl, longline and traps. The project which is a collaborative initiative between the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), industry and research partners, and substantially funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, was developed in order to resolve outstanding questions relating to the potential impacts and sustainability of demersal fishing practices in the AFZ at Heard Island and the McDonald Islands (HIMI). It will also help resolve similar outstanding questions for other fisheries in the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in which Australian industry participates and provide technology for use in other fisheries to address similar questions.The proposed project will assess the degree to which demersal gears interact with and possibly damage benthic habitats. It will also assess the degree to which these habitats might be damaged within the AFZ in the HIMI region. The project is not intended to estimate rates of recovery of benthic habitats following damage by demersal gears. However, information from the literature on rates of recovery of different benthic species and habitats will be used to assess the risks of long-term sustainability of these habitats.ObjectivesTo develop deep sea camera technologies that can be easily deployed during fishing operations, to facilitate widespread observations of demersal fishing activities (trawl, longline and trap) and their interactions with benthic environments.To assess the vulnerability of benthic communities in Sub-Antarctic (Australian AFZ) and high latitude areas of the Southern Ocean (Australian EEZ) to demersal fishing using trawls, long-lines or traps, using video and still camera technologies.To assess the risk of demersal fishing to long-term sustainability of benthic communities in these areas, based on the assessment of vulnerability and information from the literature on potential recovery of benthic species and habitats.To recommend mitigation strategies by avoidance or gear modification, where identified to be needed, and practical guidelines to minimise fishing impacts on benthic communities.Target Outcomes1. Assessment of the vulnerability of benthic habitats and species to damage by demersal fishing practices, based on field observations and experiments.2. Assessment of risks from demersal fishing to the sustainability of benthic habitats based on field work and knowledge from the literature on recovery of different types of benthic species and habitats.3. Modifications, as needed, to either fishery management or fishery practices in the HIMI and/or other Southern Ocean fisheries resulting in long-term sustainability of benthic habitats.4. Improved knowledge of the distribution and species composition of marine benthic ecosystems in the Australian EEZ.5. Video and still camera technologies that can be easily used by AFMA Observers and marine research institutions (both domestic and international) investigating the interactions of demersal gears (trawls, longlines and traps) with benthic environments.Notes from the Word document written by Kirrily Moore:The original core of the database (ie the taxa tree) was copied from a similar taxonomic database at CSIRO Marine Research in late 2005. At the time I was just starting to sort the benthic samples obtained in the cruise Southern Champion 26 (SC26) which formed the main part of the assessment of the conservation values of the HIMI Conservation Zones. There wasn't a database immediately available and applicable to the species or taxa I was likely to encounter so we (Tim Lamb and I) sourced the taxa tree and all the taxonomic hierarchy from CSIRO as a starting point. Tim then designed the forms and tables for the cruise, haul and sample details based on the existing FishLog database. There are many species in the taxa tree which are not Antarctic or sub-Antarctic, they were simply already in the taxa tree when we obtained the sanctioned copy. The database is a work in progress which has developed as Tim has responded to my requests for changes. The demands of the database have changed in the last few months as we've been working through the backlog of invertebrate taxa in the freezer. It has extended from the original cruise (SC26) to many cruises and thus now includes pelagic invertebrates more commonly associated with fishing gear (rather than purely benthic taxa collected in beam trawls and benthic sleds).The download file includes an access database and a word document detailing some information about the database. A folder containing photos that needs to be associated with the database is also available, but as it is over 3 GB in size, it is not available as a download, but will be available on request to the AADC (once this dataset is publicly available).Taken from the 2009-2010 Progress Report:Project objectives:1/ To develop deep sea camera technologies that can be easily deployed during fishing operations, to facilitate widespread observations of demersal fishing activities (trawl, longline and trap) and their interactions with benthic environments.2/ To assess the vulnerability of benthic communities in Sub-Antarctic (Australian AFZ) and high latitude areas of the Southern Ocean (Australian EEZ) to demersal fishing using trawls, long-lines or traps, using video and still camera technologies.3/ To assess the risk of demersal fishing to long-term sustainability of benthic communities in these areas, based on the assessment of vulnerability and information from the literature on potential recovery of benthic species and habitats.4/ To recommend mitigation strategies by avoidance or gear modification, where identified to be needed, and practical guidelines to minimise fishing impacts on benthic communities.Progress against objectives:1/ Progress against objective 1 is well advanced. Underwater camera system units have been developed, refined and are currently deployed on commercial vessels fishing in the subantarctic.2/ Progress against objective 2 is well advanced. Underwater camera system units, beam trawls and benthic sleds have been used to assess the types and distribution of benthic habitats in the sub-Antarctic and in high latitude areas of the Southern Ocean. Theoretical and empirical analyses of the resistance of key habitat-forming benthic invertebrates to impact from demersal fishing gear is ongoing. This will form the basis of an assessment of the vulnerability of the various habitat types to demersal fishing operations.3/ Progress against objective 3 is ongoing. Theoretical analysis of the resilience of key habitat-forming benthic invertebrates to impact from varying levels of demersal fishing pressure is ongoing. Analysis of current fishing effort and future fishing scenarios is ongoing. The risk of fishing to the sustainability of benthic communities in these areas will be assessed from their vulnerability to impact, their resilience or ability to recovery from impact, and from current and potential future patterns of demersal fishing.3/ Progress against objective 4 is ongoing. Analysis of in-situ video footage of commercial and simulated demersal fishing operations captured with the underwater camera systems, with reference to factors such as depth, habitat type, wind, sea-state, current and gear configuration is revealing strategies for mitigating and minimising the impact of demersal fishing.

本项目旨在评估南大洋澳大利亚专属经济区（Australian Exclusive Economic Zone, EEZ）/澳大利亚捕鱼区（Australian Fishing Zone, AFZ）内澳大利亚渔业的生境脆弱性与风险，及其受三类底栖渔具（demersal gears）——拖网、延绳钓与陷阱笼——的影响。本项目由澳大利亚南极分部（Australian Antarctic Division, AAD）、澳大利亚渔业管理局（Australian Fisheries Management Authority, AFMA）、行业与研究伙伴合作发起，获渔业研究与发展公司（Fisheries Research and Development Corporation）全额资助，旨在解决赫德岛和麦克唐纳群岛（Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, HIMI）所在AFZ区域内底栖渔捞活动潜在影响与可持续性相关的遗留问题。同时，本项目也将为澳大利亚行业参与的南极海洋生物资源养护委员会（Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, CCAMLR）框架下其他渔业的同类遗留问题提供解决方案，并为其他渔业应对类似问题提供技术支撑。

本项目将评估底栖渔具与底栖生境（benthic habitats）的交互程度及潜在破坏风险，同时评估HIMI区域AFZ内上述生境可能遭受的破坏程度。本项目无意估算底栖渔具破坏后底栖生境的恢复速率，但将利用文献中关于不同底栖物种与生境的恢复速率信息，评估这些生境的长期可持续性风险。

### 项目目标
1. 开发可在渔捞作业中便捷部署的深海摄像技术，以实现对底栖渔捞活动（拖网、延绳钓、陷阱笼）及其与底栖环境交互的大范围观测。
2. 利用视频与静态摄像技术，评估亚南极（Sub-Antarctic）（澳大利亚AFZ）及南大洋高纬度海域（澳大利亚EEZ）内的底栖生物群落（benthic communities）对拖网、延绳钓或陷阱笼等底栖渔捞活动的脆弱性。
3. 基于脆弱性评估结果及文献中关于底栖物种与生境潜在恢复的信息，评估上述区域内底栖渔捞活动对底栖生物群落长期可持续性的风险。
4. 针对已识别的需求，通过规避措施或渔具改造提出缓解策略（mitigation strategies），并制定实用指南以最大限度降低渔捞活动对底栖生物群落的影响。

### 目标产出
1. 基于野外观测与实验，评估底栖生境与物种受底栖渔捞活动破坏的脆弱性。
2. 基于野外工作及文献中关于不同类型底栖物种与生境恢复的知识，评估底栖渔捞活动对上述区域底栖生境可持续性的风险。
3. 针对HIMI及/或其他南大洋渔业的渔捞管理或作业方式提出必要改进方案，以实现底栖生境的长期可持续性。
4. 增进对澳大利亚EEZ内海洋底栖生态系统分布与物种组成的认知。
5. 开发可由AFMA观察员及国内外海洋研究机构便捷使用的摄像技术，用于研究底栖渔具（拖网、延绳钓、陷阱笼）与底栖环境的交互作用。

### Kirrily Moore 文档说明
本数据库的原始核心（即分类单元树）于2005年末从澳大利亚联邦科学与工业研究组织（Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, CSIRO）海洋研究所的同类分类数据库复制而来。彼时我刚开始整理“南方冠军号26航次（Southern Champion 26, SC26）”采集的底栖样本，该样本是HIMI保护区保护价值评估的核心组成部分。当时没有可直接用于我所接触物种或分类单元的现成数据库，因此我与蒂姆·兰姆（Tim Lamb）从CSIRO获取了分类单元树及完整分类层级作为基础。随后蒂姆基于现有FishLog数据库，为本航次设计了航次、捕捞与样本详情的表单与表格。
本分类单元树中包含诸多并非南极或亚南极的物种，这是因为我们获取授权副本时这些物种已存在于树中。本数据库仍在开发完善中，随蒂姆响应我的修改需求不断迭代。近几个月来，随着我们处理冰柜中积压的无脊椎动物分类单元，数据库的需求也发生了变化。其覆盖范围已从最初的SC26航次扩展至多个航次，因此现在也纳入了更常与渔具相关的浮游无脊椎动物（而非仅底拖网与底栖拖曳采泥器采集的底栖分类单元）。
下载文件包含一个Access数据库与一份详述数据库相关信息的Word文档。另有一个需与数据库关联的照片文件夹可供获取，但因文件大小超过3GB，无法直接提供下载，仅可在本数据集公开后向澳大利亚南极数据中心（Australian Antarctic Data Centre, AADC）申请获取。

### 2009-2010年度进度报告
#### 项目目标
1. 开发可在渔捞作业中便捷部署的深海摄像技术，以实现对底栖渔捞活动（拖网、延绳钓、陷阱笼）及其与底栖环境交互的大范围观测。
2. 利用视频与静态摄像技术，评估亚南极（澳大利亚AFZ）及南大洋高纬度海域（澳大利亚EEZ）内的底栖生物群落对拖网、延绳钓或陷阱笼等底栖渔捞活动的脆弱性。
3. 基于脆弱性评估结果及文献中关于底栖物种与生境潜在恢复的信息，评估上述区域内底栖渔捞活动对底栖生物群落长期可持续性的风险。
4. 针对已识别的需求，通过规避措施或渔具改造提出缓解策略，并制定实用指南以最大限度降低渔捞活动对底栖生物群落的影响。

#### 目标完成进度
1. 目标1的推进已取得显著进展。水下摄像系统单元已完成开发与优化，目前已部署在亚南极海域作业的商业渔船上。
2. 目标2的推进已取得显著进展。已利用水下摄像系统单元、底拖网与底栖采泥器评估了亚南极及南大洋高纬度海域内底栖生境的类型与分布。针对关键造栖底栖无脊椎动物对底栖渔具冲击的抗性开展的理论与实证分析仍在进行中，这将成为评估不同生境类型对底栖渔捞活动脆弱性的基础。
3. 目标3的推进仍在进行中。针对关键造栖底栖无脊椎动物在不同底栖渔捞压力下的恢复力开展的理论分析仍在推进，同时当前渔捞努力量与未来渔捞情景的分析也在进行。将基于底栖生物群落的受冲击脆弱性、恢复能力，以及当前与潜在未来的底栖渔捞模式，评估渔捞活动对上述区域底栖生物群落可持续性的风险。
4. 目标4的推进仍在进行中。对利用水下摄像系统采集的商业与模拟底栖渔捞作业的原位视频素材进行分析，结合水深、生境类型、风力、海况、海流与渔具配置等因素，已明确了缓解与最大限度降低底栖渔捞影响的策略。