Azores Deep-sea Research — Cruise MapGES 2020

Summary

Mapping deep-sea biodiversity and “Good Environmental Status” in the Azores

The MapGES 2020 survey was divided into 3 different legs, which were planned to explore different areas of the Azores archipelago around the central group of islands. Overall, 99 dives were accomplished in 8 different underwater features, which included 6 shallow seamounts and 2 island slopes. Leg 1 aimed to survey the slopes and small seamounts around the island of Graciosa and Ilha Azul seamount. This was the first time that the whole Azor drift-cam system was moved between islands using a regular ferry line and also the first full survey on board a local fishing vessel. 32 dives were successfully completed on the slopes of Graciosa and 4 dives in Ilha Azul seamount, covering more than 17 km of the seabed. Leg 2 also aimed to survey deep-sea areas on the northern side of the central group. After 7 days of work on board the RV Arquipélago, 5 different seamounts were explored (Ilha Azul, Mar da Fortuna, Serreta and João Leonardes seamounts), as well as the slopes on the western side of Terceira Island, popularly named Serreta. Thirty-seven dives were accomplished, covering more than 20 linear km of seabed. In leg 3, we explored two underwater features south of Faial and Pico Islands. 26 dives were accomplished, 13 in Condor de Fora and 13 in Baixo de São Mateus seamounts, adding an extra 13.3 km of seabed surveyed.

MapGES 2020 aimed to map deep-sea biodiversity and identify Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) using the Azor drift-cam system. The system was deployed both from the fishing vessel Galinha and from the RV Arquipélago, from the University of the Azores. The objectives of this cruise were to (i) map benthic communities inhabiting unexplored seamounts, ridges and island slopes, (ii) identify new areas that fit the FAO Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem definition; and (iii) determine distribution patterns of deep-sea benthic biodiversity in the Azores. The results of this cruise contributed to identifying the environmental drivers that determine the spatial distribution of deep-sea benthic biodiversity in the Azores region. It also provided valuable information in the context of Good Environmental Status (GES), Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) and provide new insights on how to sustainably manage deep-sea ecosystems.

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Statistics

Transits

1380 km

Multibeam Bathymetry

0 km²

Filmed Seabed

50 km

Visited Areas

Stations

Dives

Video Footage Recorded

74 hours

Used Storage

5.23 Tb

Samples

— No samples were collected

Highlights

Successfully perform a 10-day survey with the Azor drift-cam on board a local fishing vessel not based in Faial Island, with dives to almost 800 m depth. This achievement demonstrates the remarkable capacity of this tool to rapidly assess the diversity of deep-sea benthic communities from small local vessels and be moved between areas with ease.
Accomplishment of almost 100 new underwater video transects between 100 and 800 m depth, most of them in areas of the Azores that had never been explored before and for which no information regarding the composition of its benthic communities was available.
On the slopes of Graciosa Island, we found dense and diverse coral gardens, most of which were dominated by 4 different species of octocorals that displayed different densities across areas. A high proportion of the corals observed in these aggregations displayed large sizes and showed very few signs of being impacted by fishing activities. Massive sponges of the genus Characella were also commonly observed throughout the whole area, although never seen forming dense aggregations.
In general, we discovered several areas with diverse coral gardens and sponge grounds that may fit the FAO criteria to be considered Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs).

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Location of operation

Graciosa, Terceira and south Faial (Central Azores EEZ)

AZORES DEEP-SEA RESEARCH © CRUISES

Stations

MapGES 2020

Leg	Period	Days at sea	Vessel	Departure	Return
1	22/08/2020 - 31/08/2020	10	FV Galinha	Graciosa	Graciosa
2	24/09/2020 - 01/10/2020	8	RV Arquipélago	Horta	Horta
3	14/10/2020 - 14/10/2020	1	FV Tatiana	Horta	Horta
4	20/11/2020 - 26/11/2020	7	RV Arquipélago	Horta	Horta