Call for data: new information on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VME) in the North Atlantic from ICES member countries

• Main Authors: Orejas, Covadonga, Golding, Neil, Robson, Laura, Pinto, Carlos
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/1254842; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1254842

ATLAS presentation at ATLAS 3rd General Assembly. The Joint ICES/NAFO Working Group on Deep-water Ecology (WGDEC) maintains a central database holding information on the distribution and abundance of habitats and species considered to be indicators of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) across the North Atlantic. This ICES VME database aims to store and make available all known VME indicator records in the North Atlantic (covering deep water areas inside and outside national jurisdiction) for use by ICES and the wider marine community. ICES uses the database as a basis to provide scientifically-robust advice on the distribution of VMEs and possible management solutions. National Data Collection Framework correspondents (DCF) and ICES ACOM members and observers received every year the call to submit the new acquired data on occurrence of VMEs. ATLAS can highly contribute to enlarge the VMEs data base which currently presents gaps in places from which data are available. Data already published in scientific papers can also be submitted. This talk will briefly present the VMEs data base from ICES encouraging the submission of data by the ICES member countries.