An international coalition of marine scientists have set themselves a task unlike any other: to drive forward an ‘unprecedented’ and collaborative mission to map the biodiversity of the Atlantic Ocean’s deep-sea ecosystems.

Spearheaded by Plymouth Marine Laboratory alongside researchers from the University of Aveiro, the mission hopes unlocking greater knowledge of the life in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean will enable better protection for the Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems within it.

The project aims to create comprehensive, high-resolution models of deep-sea species distribution across the Atlantic – ultimately developing a ‘spatial digital twin’ of the ocean floor to inform both conservation and spatial management decisions.

At a discussion forum held at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France last week, it was argued that the initiative would “address critical gaps in current marine protection efforts” which are currently limited only to areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems are known to exist.

“Legislation requires states to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems where they are known or likely to occur. At present we only work with the known,” said Professor Kerry Howell, Plymouth Marine Laboratory’s Deep Sea Ecologist, recently successful in securing a grant from the Bezos Earth Fund to use AI for deep sea biodiversity monitoring.

“It’s a huge oversight and extremely risky to limit conservation efforts to areas we have data on. The deep sea is so vast, and we haven’t looked everywhere.”

The new mapping initiative is a focus for the Challenger 150 programme – a global scientific cooperative developed to support the objectives of the UN Ocean Decade. The programme serves as a coordination vehicle for deep-sea research worldwide, working toward common conservation and scientific goals.

Mapping these vulnerable ecosystems will require an unprecedented level of cohesive collaboration. So far, the initiative has been backed by around 40 researchers from countries including Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Canada, Germany, Norway, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

The Atlantic’s deep-sea environments harbour remarkable biodiversity, including coral gardens that serve as vital habitats for numerous species as well as black corals that may well be over 4,000 years old, extensive sponge communities, and deep-sea reefs that function as nurseries for sharks and other marine life.

It was highlighted that a formalised mapping initiative could go on to support work on the BBNJ agreement (the High Seas Treaty) while addressing the practical concerns of the fishing industry. Bottom trawling operations – as widely publicised in the feature film Ocean with David Attenborough – can destroy ancient coral reefs, creating ‘disasters for both the system and the fishing industry’.

Understanding the precise locations of these vulnerable ecosystems could therefore enable better planning of human activities while protecting irreplaceable marine habitats. 

The concept of mapping the Atlantic seafloor was first discussed in 2024 during a meeting of minds in Portugal in which members of the Challenger 150 Arctic, North, and Central and South Atlantic Regional Scientific Research Working Groups took part. The discussion in Nice last week represents a significant step towards formalising this international collaborative mission.

“We can continue to do this as a jigsaw, but it will take a lot longer,” said Professor Howell. “If we can align things now, it will be a much easier job. All of us together could collectively realise this ambition.”

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