D. Carlos Marine Reserve: a test of our shared ambition to protect the hidden mountains of our ocean

By Bronwen Golder, DSCC Seamounts Campaign Director 

During the 11th Our Ocean Conference in Kenya, Portugal announced the planned D. Carlos I Marine Natural Reserve, currently being finalised with Madeira. The reserve will cover 173,000 square kilometres, including the Gorringe Bank and Madeira–Torre geological complex within Portuguese waters and a portion of extended continental shift beyond 200 nautical miles – the Josephine seamount complex – where bottom contact fisheries are regulated by the regional Northeast Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC).

This is a major opportunity for seamount protection, and a world leading example of national, regional and international legal frameworks being applied in a coordinated fashion to ensure the effective protection of deep sea ecosystems that extend from national waters into the high seas.

Seamounts are underwater mountains that create unique habitats and support exceptional biodiversity, yet many seamounts in the North-East Atlantic remain vulnerable to bottom-contact fishing.

The DSCC and partners have long called for the Josephine seamount complex to be designated as a Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VME) closure by NEAFC to ensure its protection from further degradation and to allow it the time and space to recover.

As Portugal, the European Union and NEAFC legal processes are aligned to designate consistent protection measures for the D. Carlos Marine Reserve, the ambition must match the evidence: all seamounts in these waters must be protected from destructive bottom-contact fishing by all flags.

With momentum building through the Our Ocean Conference towards 30×30, growing recognition of the threat bottom trawling poses to deep-sea ecosystems, and the upcoming UN workshop and review on bottom fisheries, the D.Carlos Marine Reserve can become a landmark example of science-based protection for the deep ocean that through State, EU and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMO) alignment will deliver on the ocean governance and protection ambition of the High Seas Treaty (BBNJ Agreement).