Note from the Executive Secretary |
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Dr David Freestone
Executive Secretary
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This World Oceans Day, I am delighted to announce that the Sargasso Sea Commission, in partnership with UNDP and IOC UNESCO, has now received formal endorsement from the Chief Executive Officer of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for our project entitled 'Strengthening the stewardship of an economically and biologically significant high seas area – the Sargasso Sea', which is part of the GEF Common Oceans Programme administered by FAO. We are now good to go!
This announcement comes after many months of dedicated work from our project team, to whom I am sure we give our sincere thanks, particularly to Dr David Vousden (who wrote the project proposal) and Dr Andy Hudson from UNDP. David reminded me recently that we first developed the idea for the GEF project over a pint of bitter and a steak and kidney pie in a London pub near IMO in 2018.
Work has already begun on the collection of data for the ecosystem diagnostic analysis for the Sargasso Sea with separate financing from the French Global Environment (FFEM). This will be the first such analysis of a high seas ecosystem. We look forward to strengthening the stewardship of the Sargasso Sea under this project.
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Sargasso Sea Project Receives Formal Endorsement |
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The Sargasso Sea Commission project, part of the GEF Common Oceans Programme administered by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), entitled 'Strengthening the stewardship of an economically and biologically significant high seas area – the Sargasso Sea' has now received official endorsement from the Chief Executive Officer of the Global Environment Facility.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the GEF implementing agency for the project, and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (IOC-UNESCO) will serve as UNDP Implementing Partner (Executing Agency).
This project, along with the separate but complementary grant from the Fonds Français pour l'Environnement Mondial (FFEM) will allow the Sargasso Sea Commission to make significant progress in its work programme. The overall objective of the GEF project, with nearly $3 million of direct funding and over $33 million of co-financing from our project partners, is to facilitate a collaborative, cross-sectoral, and sustainable stewardship approach for the Sargasso Sea through improvement of the knowledge base and strengthened frameworks for collaborative management and governance.
Image credit: Andrew Stevenson
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Governance of High Seas Ecosystems: Big Data & AI report published |
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The final report of the project on the use of "Big Data" and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the governance of high seas ecosystems has now been published. With the support of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Swedish Government Department of Environment, The Sargasso Sea Commission contracted Nick Lambert Associates International to produce the report on a very tight time scale.
The report reviews the existing state of the art on remote sensing, data services and systems, including hybrid and cloud-based platforms, and use of AI analytics and data visualization technologies to access, utilize and disseminate information in a strategic and cost-effective way for management and conservation in remote areas. You can read the full report at the link below.
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SSC at the UN Ocean Conference |
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The 2022 United Nations Ocean Conference is taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, from June 27th-July 1st. The theme of the conference is 'Scaling up Ocean Action Based on Science and Innovation for the Implementation of Goal 14: Stocktaking, Partnerships and Solutions.'
Co-hosted by the governments of Portugal and Kenya, the conference takes place within the UN Decade of Ocean Science (2021-2030) - which seeks to promote understanding of the ocean and investment in science for sustainable management of ocean resources.
Several of the Sargasso Sea Commissioners will be attending, as well as Fae Sapsford, Marine Research Fellow for the Sargasso Sea Commission Secretariat. The conference will offer opportunities for networking, and to further the Commission's workplan, especially in the context of the FFEM and GEF grants.
Image credit: Fae Sapsford
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Whale Song Project launched in Bermuda |
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The Sound of Science project is a partnership between Nonsuch Expeditions, The Center for Cetacean Research & Conservation, and Cornell University Bioacoustics Lab which will analyse information on whale behaviour, acoustics, and song structure in order to investigate the impacts of climate change and ocean noise on humpback whales in Bermuda’s waters and extending out into the Sargasso Sea.
The project has just concluded its first sampling season, as humpback whales pass by Bermuda from March to April on their migration route from their calving grounds in the Caribbean to their summer feeding grounds in more northerly latitudes. The project collects data on whale behaviour, location, and movements - as well as identifying the whales using dorsal fins or flukes, and collecting sloughed off humpback skin from the water which will undergo DNA analysis.
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Creature Feature
Your window into the golden floating rainforest and who's in it!
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This is a whale louse - a parasitic crustacean that lives on the skin of whales. In general, whale louse species are specific to one species of whale - this is Cyamus boopis, which lives on the humpback whale.
The lice settle in any crevice on the whale's body that will shelter it from water currents, such as near the eyes, behind tubercles on the head, in the ventral pleats, or around the genitals. They are equipped with little hooks on their legs, which they use to hold on tightly to the whale. The lice feed primarily on algae that settle on the whale's body, sometimes eating dead skin from the whale as well.
This one was knocked off a breaching humpback whale at Challenger Bank, Bermuda and was collected as part of the Sound of Science project. One of the many theories for why humpback whales breach is to exfoliate their skin - when they leap out of the water, they usually leave behind a lot of sloughed off skin, and sometimes even whale lice!
Image credit: Fae Sapsford
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Bermuda legislates against shark fishing
The Government of Bermuda has banned the fishing of sharks - except Galapagos sharks, six-gill sharks, gummy sharks and smooth dogfish, which will be allowed to be fished by locals with a limited number of licenses.
Protection of sharks within Bermuda's EEZ will help safeguard the sharks found in the Sargasso Sea, many of which are vulnerable or endangered species, from further population decline.
The Bermuda government also hopes to add giant manta rays to the protected species legislation after a public consultation period.
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NOAA Okeanos Explorer beginning 'Voyage to the Ridge'
During May through August 2022, NOAA and partners will conduct Voyage to the Ridge 2022, a series of three telepresence-enabled ocean exploration expeditions on NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer that will include mapping operations and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dives to collect baseline information about unexplored and poorly understood deepwater areas of the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and Azores Plateau.
This expedition is highly relevant to the Sargasso Sea Commission as it will be taking place on the edge of our area of collaboration.
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IDDRI Strong High Seas Project Workshop Report
On 15 and 16 February 2022, IDDRI, in the context of the STRONG High Seas project and in cooperation with the International Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (IMCS) Network and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), organised an online informal workshop entitled “High Seas Marine Protected Areas: Vast Remote and Costly?”.
In the context of the BBNJ treaty negotiations, the workshop and subsequent report aimed to anticipate the implementation challenges of MPAs in ABNJ.
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Thank you for supporting our mission to protect the Sargasso Sea. We truly appreciate all of the donations and support that we have received over the years -- without which the Sargasso Sea Commission would not exist. |
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