Distribution of macrozoobenthic taxa - potential indicators of vulnerable marine ecosystems in the western part of Bering Sea. 1. Anadyr Bay area

• Published in: Izvestiya TINRO
• Main Authors: Victor A. Nadtochy, Nickolay V. Kolpakov, Ilya A. Korneichuk
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: Russian
• Published: Transactions of the Pacific Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography 2017
• Subjects: уязвимые морские экосистемы (умэ); анадырский залив; макрозообентос; распределение; динамика обилия; Aquaculture. Fisheries. Angling; SH1-691; Anadyr; Anadyr’; Bering Sea; Navarin; Anadyr'
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.26428/1606-9919-2017-189-156-170; https://doaj.org/article/949ec34f1a2b46b6a5b54bbc8a8aadb4

Following recent tendencies in fisheries policy to ensure both sustainability of ecosystems and conservation of economically sustainable fisheries, protection of vulnerable resources with low direct economic value comes to the focus of fisheries management on ecosystem principles. One of the problems of modern fishing is a negative impact of bottom trawling because of destruction of benthic organisms vulnerable to mechanical impacts. This by-effect of fishing could affect negatively on functioning of bottom biocenoses, reproduction of exploited species, and decrease generally productivity of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VME). Potential VME indicators are determined for the area of the Anadyr Bay in the Bering Sea on the base of results of 4 benthic surveys using bottom sampler (1985, 2005) and bottom trawl (2008, 2012), as the most common species in some macrozoobenthic groups of epifauna. They are Gersemia rubiformis for soft corals, Myxilla incrustans , Halichondria panicea , Semisuberites cribrosa for sponges, Halocynthia aurantium , Boltenia ovifera for sea squirts, Cystisella saccata , Flustra foliacea for bryozoans, Chirona evermanni for barnacles, and Gorgonocephalus eucnemis for brittle stars. Their distribution is mapped. According to their life history and feeding habits, these species-indicators are divided onto two groups: immobile sestonophages (alcyonarians, sponges, ascidians, bryozoans, cirripedians) and mobile filtrators (brittle stars). The first group prevails on hard and mixed grounds mainly along southwestern and northeastern coasts of the Anadyr Bay at the depths of 80-90 m (sponges and bryozoans - to 250 m in the Navarin Canyon) with relatively warm water, active hydrodynamics and high biological productivity. The second group represented by G. eucnemis dominates on soft sediments in the central part of the Anadyr Bay with the depths of 50-270 m occupied by the cold water pool. Quantitative distribution of brittle star, on the one hand, and barnacles with sea squirts, on the other hand, ...