The cruise also provided valuable information in the context of Good Environmental Status (GES), Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) and provided new insights on how to sustainably manage deep-sea ecosystems. Three new hopper dives were performed during the 64PE479 Terceira 2020 cruise. One dive was performed on the southern slopes of Terceira island, covering a depth range between 150 and 750 m. The remaining two dives were performed in a deep ridge/seamount located southwest of Terceira Island, in two locations at 1000 and 1500 m depth. Overall, we collected 7 h of new video footage, covering 8.75 km of the seabed. More than 6 km corresponded to the deep ridge, from which no information was available until now.

The continuation of the long-lasting collaboration with scientists from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ). This was the third time deep-sea scientists from IMAR Instituto do Mar and Okeanos University of the Azores joined Fleur Visser cruises. The RV Pelagia cruise 64PE479 aimed to continue exploring the deep-sea areas of the Azores EEZ, namely in the southern Terceira island slopes and deep ridges, to (i) characterize benthic communities inhabiting seamounts in the Azores, such as São Jorge de Fora seamount, (ii) identify new areas that fit the FAO Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem criteria; and (iii) to contribute with additional data to address patterns and drivers of the distribution of deep-sea benthic biodiversity in the Azores region.