Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) in the Northeast Part of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission Convention Area

This working paper is an update to Canada’s proposed quantitative approach to identifying Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) described in NPFC-2021-SSC BFME-WP05 (Warawa et al. 2021). In this approach we use predictive habitat models to identify areas likely to be VMEs and visual data to identify VMEs, as outlined by the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) framework for identifying data that can be used to identify VMEs in the NW and NE parts of the NPFC’s Convention Area (NPFC 2021). Our quantitative approach is based on work by Rowden et al. (2020) who identify thresholds related to the amount of VME indicator taxa in an area and how it contributes to an increase in associated species richness as a result of providing structural complexity. Canada’s proposed approach to identifying VMEs shows an example of an extension of the Rowden et al. (2020) approach to presence absence data and models. Our preliminary results from the Cobb-Eickelberg seamount chain study area detect a VME density threshold of 0.57 VME indicators taxa/m² and a VME occurrence threshold of 0.78. Applying these thresholds to visual data and predictive habitat models result in a total area of 750m² identified as VMEs on Cobb seamount and a total area of 1,542 km² identified as likely to be VMEs along the Cobb-Eickelberg seamount chain, respectively.