Seamounts originate from volcanic islands that have sunk beneath the surface of the sea, mainly as a result of erosion, or geological disturbance. The ecological and oceanographic importance of seamounts for the status of marine food webs and biodiversity has only recently been recognized, yet seamounts world-wide have been so intensively exploited by fisheries that many of their biotic components have suffered serious depletion.
This important book brings together our current knowledge of seamounts, concentrating on the themes of recruitment and vulnerability of seamount organisms, impacts on seamount biodiversity, and the sustainability and economic basis of seamount fisheries. Chapters which are written by acknowledged experts in marine and fisheries ecology include coverage of the influences of ocean currents, complex food web structures, transient feeding by visitors to seamounts such as whales and tunas, and the integration of differing environmental compartments stratified by depth. The editors of this book have drawn together an extremely valuable reference and tool for all those involved in marine ecosystems, and fisheries conservation and management.
1 Seamount characteristics Paul Wessel 2 How many seamounts are there and where are they located? Adrian Kitchingman, Sherman Lai, Telmo Morato and Daniel Pauly 3 A history of seamount research Paul E. Brewin, Karen I. Stocks and Gui Menezes 4 Physical processes and seamount productivity Martin White, Igor Bashmachnikov, Javier Aristegui and Ana Martins 5 Seamount plankton dynamics Amatzia Genin and John F. Dower 6 Midwater fish assemblages and seamounts Filipe M. Porteiro and Tracey Sutton 7 Seamount benthos Sarah Samadi, Thomas Schlacher and Bertrand Richer de Forges 8 Corals on seamounts Alex D. Rogers, A. Baco, H. Griffiths, T. Hart and Jason M. Hall-Spencer 9 Seamount fishes: ecology and life histories Telmo Morato and Malcolm R. Clark 10 Fish visitors to seamounts Section A: Tunas and billfish at seamounts Kim N. Holland and R. Dean GrubbsSection B: Aggregations of large pelagic sharks above seamounts Feodor Litvinov 11 Seamounts and cephalopods Malcolm Clarke 12 Air-breathing visitors to seamounts Section A: Marine mammals Kristin Kaschner Section B: Sea turtles Marco A. Santos, Alan B. Bolten, Helen R. Martins, Brian Riewald and Karen A. BjorndalSection C: Importance of seamounts to seabirdsDavid R. Thompson 13 Biogeography and biodiversity of seamounts Karen I. Stocks and Paul J.B. Hart 14 Raiding the larder: a quantitative evaluation framework and trophic signature for seamount food webs Tony J. Pitcher and Cathy Bulman 15 Modelling seamount ecosystems and their fisheries Beth Fulton, Telmo Morato and Tony J. Pitcher 16 Small-scale fishing on seamounts Helder Marques da Silva and Mario Rui Pinho 17 Large-scale distant-water trawl fisheries on seamounts Malcolm R. Clark, Vladimir I. Vinnichenko, John D.M. Gordon, Georgy Z. Beck-Bulat, Nikolai N. Kukharev and Alexander F. Kakora 18 Catches from world seamount fisheries Reg Watson, Adrian Kitchingman and William Cheung 19 Impacts of fisheries on seamounts Malcolm R. Clark and J. Anthony Koslow 20 Management and conservation of seamounts P. Keith Probert, Sabine Christiansen, Kristina M. Gjerde, Susan Gubbay and Ricardo S. Santos 21 The depths of ignorance: an ecosystem evaluation framework for seamount ecology, fisheries and conservationTony J. Pitcher, Telmo Morato, Paul J.B. Hart, Malcolm R. Clark, Nigel Haggan and Ricardo S. Santos
Tony J. Pitcher Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Telmo Morato Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, University of the Azores, Horta, Portugal Paul J.B. Hart Department of Biology, University of Leicester, United Kingdom Malcolm R. Clark National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand Nigel Haggan Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Ricardo S. Santos Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, University of the Azores, Horta, Portugal
This book is a very important contribution to the seamount field and I feel safe in predicting that it will be valuable resource for researchers and stakeholders for many years to come. (Environmental Conservation, December 2008) "A brilliant and very useful book about a very important topic. An impressive collaboration." (Ausmarine) "A Brilliant and very useful book about a very important topic. An impressive collaboration." (Work Boat World)