The main objective of the Greenpeace 2019 cruise in the Azores on-board the MV Esperanza was to (i) map benthic communities inhabiting unexplored seamounts in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) west of Faial Island with an ROV Seaeye Cougar-XT, (ii) identify new areas that fit the FAO vulnerable marine ecosystems definition; and (iii) to contribute with additional data to address patterns and drivers of the distribution of deep-sea benthic biodiversity in the Azores. The sampling design also allowed the collection of biological samples for taxonomy and genetic studies. During the Greenpeace 2019 cruise, we had the opportunity to conduct short ROVs dives in the Beta and Cavala seamounts.

Greenpeace invited deep-sea scientists from IMAR Instituto do Mar and Okeanos University of the Azores to join the Greenpeace Pole-to-Pole expedition – an almost year-long voyage from the Arctic to the Antarctic to highlight the many threats oceans are facing, and to campaign for a Global Ocean Treaty covering all seas outside of national waters. While in the Azores, we aimed to visit some previously unexplored seamounts in the Mid Atlantic Ridge (MAR) where there was strong evidence of the presence of large aggregations of the bubble gum coral Paragorgia johnsoni and other Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VME) indicator taxa. These areas were located around the Cavala seamount area, approximately 100 nm west of Horta harbour in Faial island.