The relevance of connectivity for marine biodiversity has been recognised in the negotiations for a new international legally binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. This technical brief provides evidence to support future negotiations. It explains how connectivity can be considered in negotiations on three of the four ‘package elements’ of the instrument: area-based tools, environmental impact assessments and technology transfer and capacity building. This technical brief provides an opportunity to consider appropriate ways to include ecological connectivity in order to support the delivery of the ecosystem approach. This brief was produced under the auspices of the ABNJ Deeps Seas Project funded by the Global Environment Facility. This is a 5-year project jointly implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) in partnership with regional fisheries bodies, Regional Seas Programmes, the fishing industry, international organziations and governments. 

This publication presents the outcome of a meeting between the FAO/UNEP ABNJ Deep-seas and Biodiversity project and the Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative. It focuses on the impacts of climatic changes on demersal fisheries, and the interactions of these fisheries with other species and vulnerable marine ecosystems. Regional fisheries management organizations rely on scientific information to develop advice to managers. In recent decades, climate change has been a focus largely as a unidirectional forcing over decadal timescales. However, changes can occur abruptly when critical thresholds are crossed. Moreover, distribution changes are expected as populations shift from existing to new areas. Hence, there is a need for new monitoring programmes to help scientists understand how these changes affect productivity and biodiversity.

A number of analyses have been undertaken to inform the development of a methodology to support application of cross-sectoral area-based planning in areas beyond national jurisdiction by parties to Regional Seas Conventions and their Secretariat. This report constitutes one such analysis and explores four case study regions in which area-based planning has occurred in areas beyond national jurisdiction: Eastern Central (EC) Pacific; Mediterranean; North East (NE) Atlantic; and Southern Ocean. The four case study regions demonstrate a variety of different contexts and methods for area-based planning in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

The third Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting of the ABNJ Deep Seas Project was held at WCMC headquarters in Cambridge, United Kingdom from 17-18 April 2018. The meeting was attended by representatives of 13 project partners, including the FAO and UNEP-WCMC. The primary objective of this PSC meeting was to discuss the results of the Mid-Term Review (MTR), which covered the time period from the project start date to December 2017.

This paper discusses the potential value of catch documentation schemes (CDS) in deep-sea fisheries (DSF), and the implementation modalities that have to be envisaged, to ensure the effectiveness of this trade-based tool to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. The paper argues that CDS are indeed capable of directly addressing a number of IUU fishing practices known to occur in DSF, and that their adoption would improve compliance with fisheries management requirements. Key infringements that may be directly detected and addressed through a CDS include – but are not limited to – violations of closed areas harbouring protected vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in the deep ocean, and quota overfishing. The paper also establishes the notion that partial coverage of given species through a CDS at the level of individual RFMOs is incongruous from a trade monitoring and control perspective, and that CDS should be considered as either/or propositions with regard to species coverage. With most DSF species having broad distributions straddling many RFMOs, the implementation modality that avails itself as the most suitable option, enabling the operation of an effective CDS, is that of a centrally operated electronic CDS platform – called a super-CDS – shared by a plurality of institutional and state players.