New sponge unearthed in Bering Sea canyon

VICTORIA BARBER

May 09, 2008 at 11:25AM AKST

Greenpeace has announced that its 2007 exploration of the Pribilof and Zhemchung sea canyons unearthed a new species of sponge.

The group has named the inch-long off-white sponge Aaptos kanuux '97 "kanuux" is the Unangan word for heart.

"If you squint a little and use your imagination it looks a little like a heart," said John Hocevar, an oceans specialist with Greenpeace.

The lumpish specimen makes an unlikely poster child, but Hocevar says that the discovery of a new species strengthens Greenpeace’s campaign to protect the canyons from some, or all, fishing activity.

"This discovery highlights how unique the canyons are and underscores how little is known about the deep sea," Hocevar said. "It’s less about this particular sponge or saying that this particular sponge is critical to the ecosystem."

"Clearly we know very little about what lives in these canyons, never mind how they’re connected to each other, never mind how important they are to fisheries," he said.

Greenpeace has requested that the North Pacific Fishery Management Council consider restricting fishing in the area of the canyons before, but the request was turned down due to lack of information. The canyons had never been explored, and little was known about what was there to protect.

Then, in the summer of 2007, the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza spent eight weeks in the Bering Sea, using manned submarines and a remote-operated vehicle to delve into the canyons.

Hocevar said that the mission found seven coral species and 14 sponges that had never before been found in the Bering Sea, including a pale, golf ball-sized sponge recovered at 700 feet down the Pribilof Canyon. That sponge, along with 19 other samples, were sent to Helmut Lehnert, an independent sponge taxonomist in Germany.

Lehnert spent about two months identifying the sponges by examining their spicules, or skeletal structure. About two months after receiving the samples, Lehnert confirmed that he had found a new species. He is preparing a formal description of the species for publication.

Hocevar said that Greenpeace hopes that the discoveries, along with evidence of damage from trawling and long lining in the canyon, will compel the NPFMC to reconsider protecting the canyons. He said that Greenpeace would like to see the area closed to all fishing, but at the very least bottom trawling.

The council meets in June and has no current plans to discuss the canyons. However, members of the public can raise issues at the meeting that are not on the agenda.

Hocevar said that Greenpeace intends bring up the topic but noted that "so far the council has not been receptive to efforts to formally present either our findings or a proposal to protect these areas."

Gerry Merrigan, of Prowler Fisheries in St. Petersburg, is a member of the council and sits on the North Pacific Research Board, which determines what research proposals will be funded.

Merrigan said in an e-mail that he was critical of Greenpeace’s argument for closing the canyons to fishing.

"Greenpeace did a very opportunistic sampling program ... in hopes of finding something/anything that might serve their agenda to shut down fishing. This is not a scientific hypothesis," Merrigan said. "Just because Greenpeace calls their agenda ‘science’ doesn’t make it so."

Part of Greenpeace’s official mandate is to encourage governments to set aside 40 percent of the world’s oceans as "marine reserves" '97 areas that are closed to all fishing.

"What’s needed is a more precautionary approach, considering how little we know about the deep sea," Hocevar said. "It’s been a little frustrating so far getting the council to consider these findings, but I’m hopeful that they will incorporate this new research into their management plans."

Victoria Barber can be reached at (907) 348-2424 or toll free at (800) 770-9830, ext. 424.