New Report Advances
Awareness and Understanding of Ancient Deep
Sea Sponge Grounds
Edinburgh, 23 August
2010 - Ocean sponges from shallower waters
have already been shown to be valuable sources
for new medicinal drugs to treat cancers
and for antibiotics, and it is expected
that deepwater sponges will be equally valuable,
if not more so.
A groundbreaking new
report, Deep-sea Sponge Grounds: Reservoirs
of Biodiversity, which consolidates knowledge
on the biology and ecology of deep-water
sponge grounds, their value to society,
and their associated policy frameworks,
was launched today.
The report is aimed
at boosting the protection and sustainable
management of these long-overlooked diverse
and ancient habitats that, being slow-growing
and long-surviving, are particularly vulnerable
to human activities such as bottom-trawl
fishing. Today's Canadian sponge reefs are
up to 9,000 years old, with individual sponges
reaching more than a century.
The report also draws
attention to how little is currently known
- a global map of sponges does not yet exist
- and demonstrates the crucial need to develop
fuller knowledge and understanding of these
habitats together with raising awareness
as to why sponge grounds are important and
the threats they face.
To date, management
and conservation of deep-water sponges is
widely considered to be inadequate and uncoordinated,
despite them being recognised internationally
as vulnerable marine ecosystems and representing
not only habitats for deep-sea fish, but
also an important interest to the biotechnology
industry as a reservoir for potentially
life-saving drugs, such as Manolide, an
active compound which has antileukemic properities
and is from the Luffariella variabilis,
a shallow water sponge from the South Pacific.
The report, unveiled
today at the European Marine Biology Symposium
at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh,
has been compiled in collaboration with
leading experts, as part of the United Nations
Environment Programme - World Conservation
Monitoring Centre's (UNEP-WCMC) Biodiversity
Series, and the UNEP Regional Seas Technical
Report series.
The Symposium represents
an excellent opportunity to bring deep-sea
sponge science and conservation to the European
regional stage and to contribute towards
the escalating international efforts to
understand and protect critical marine habitats.
Its launch also coincides with the 2010
UN International Year of Biodiversity, of
which UNEP and a number of the contributing
institutions are partners.
Support for the production
of the report was contributed by the World
Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and by the 'Deep-sea
Conservation for the UK' project funded
by the Esmée Fairburn Foundation
and the European Community's Seventh Framework
Programme under the HERMIONE project.
"This report highlights
the need to minimize the risk of damage
to deep-sea sponge grounds through appropriate
conservation and careful management, and
presents further evidence of the need to
improve understanding to ensure that future
generations have the opportunity to benefit
from these vulnerable deep-water habitats,"
said Chris Elliot of WWF International.
UNEP-WCMC has a strong
reputation for managing critical marine
habitat data and for linking high-sea and
deep-sea biodiversity data and information
for management and policy decision-making.
As an active partner in the European Community's
HERMIONE project and the Global Ocean Biodiversity
Initiative (GOBI), UNEP-WCMC has recently
launched a new initiative, the Global Marine
Data Partnership, which aims to collaboratively
improve the quality and quantity of data
and information for coastal, open ocean
and deep sea areas through a wide range
of partnerships.
"Improved data
on the habitat of deep sea sponge grounds
that allows for the measurement of change
over time will significantly help in policy
planning, research and protective measures
and is of increasing importance given the
unknown impact of climate change and ocean
acidification on the health and function
of these fragile, and overlooked 'Cinderellas'
of the sea," said Nicola Barnard of
UNEP-WCMC.
Appreciation of deep
sea sponge grounds and consideration of
them in conservation and management decision-making
is only just beginning and the report launched
today provides an excellent foundation upon
which to build this work. Immediate needs
include bringing the research community
together to focus efforts on understanding
these habitats, promoting the transfer of
expertise and infrastructure from developed
to less-developed nations, and building
on existing policy mechanisms such as the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
which will help to implement protective
measures at the soonest opportunity.
At the same time, the
knowledge generated about deep-sea sponge
grounds must lead to policy responses protecting
these habitats from damage. These actions
will ensure that our future generations
will be able to benefit from these important
and fragile, habitat forming architects
of the deep sea.
To download the report, please visit: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/resources/publications/UNEP_WCMC_bio_series/32/Sponges_BS32-RS189.pdf
Information for Editors:
The sponges (Phylum:
Porifera) form one of the most ancient animal
groups on the planet, with a fossil record
reaching back to the Cambrian, 580 million
years ago. Sponges are multi-cellular and
have simple structures with no true tissues
or organs, yet despite this simplicity the
group is highly diverse, comprising approximately
8,000 present-day species, an estimated
7,000 undescribed species and hundreds of
fossil species.
Sponges form structurally
complex habitats on the seabed supporting
locally rich biodiversity. They have provided
a range of goods and services for thousands
of years and most recently - as of the 1970s
- a growing significant biotechnological
industry has developed and a number of drugs
have now been discovered from sponges and
taken through clinical trials.
There are existing policy
frameworks which can be used to improve
sponge protection and management, the most
notable being the adoption by the UN General
Assembly in December 2006 of Resolution
61/105 which calls upon States and regional
fishery management organisations to ensure
that vulnerable marine ecosystems do not
suffer significant adverse environmental
impacts from bottom fishing.
Deep-water sponges meet
the criteria for the identification of vulnerable
marine ecosystems (VMEs) published by the
UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
in 2009. The conservation of sponge grounds
may also be achieved through the Convention
of Biological Diversity's 2012 marine protected
area target and through their activities
to identify ecologically and biologically
significant areas (EBSAs) in the open oceans
and deep seas.
The United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), established in 1972, is
the voice for the environment within the
United Nations system. UNEP acts as a catalyst,
advocate, educator and facilitator to promote
the wise use and sustainable development
of the global environment. To accomplish
this, UNEP works with a wide range of partners,
including United Nations entities, international
organisations, national governments nongovernmental
organisations, the private sector and civil
society.
WWF is one of the world's
largest and most respected independent conservation
organizations. Acting locally through a
network of over 90 offices, and on-the-ground
conservation projects in over 100 countries,
WWF seeks to stop the degradation of the
planet's natural environment and to build
a future in which humans live in harmony
with nature.
>b>The Esmée
Fairbairn Foundation aims to improve the
quality of life throughout the United Kingdom
by funding the charitable activities of
organisations that have the ideas and ability
to achieve change for the better. They target
work that might otherwise be considered
difficult to fund. Their primary interests
are in the cultural life of the UK, education
and learning, the natural environment and
enabling disadvantaged people to participate
more fully in society.
The European Commission
is the EU's executive body. It represents
and upholds the interests of Europe as a
whole. It drafts proposals for new European
laws and manages the day-to-day business
of implementing EU policies and spending
EU funds. The Commission also makes sure
that everyone abides by the European treaties
and laws.
The HERMIONE (Hotspot
Ecosystem Research and Man's Impact on European
Seas) project is a Collaborative Project
funded under the European Commission's Framework
7 programme. HERMIONE is the successor to
the highly successful HERMES project, which
finished in March 2009. It is designed to
make a major advance in our knowledge of
the functioning of deep-sea ecosystems and
their contribution to the production of
goods and services. This will be achieved
through a highly interdisciplinary approach
(including biologists, ecologists, microbiologists,
biogeochemists, sedimentologists, physical
oceanographers, modelers and socio-economists)
that will integrate biodiversity, specific
adaptions and biological capacity in the
context of a wide range of highly vulnerable
deep-sea habitats.
The Convention on Biological
Diversity (CDB) was signed by 150 government
leaders at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. The
CBD is dedicated to promoting sustainable
development and was inspired by the world
community's growing commitment to sustainable
development. It represents a dramatic step
forward in the conservation of biological
diversity, the sustainable use of its components,
and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits
arising from the use of genetic resources.
The Convention has now been ratified by
193 Parties, including all Small Island
Developing States.
