EarthRef.org Digital Archive (ERDA) -- Scientific Research and Conservation of Seamounts in the Azores and the NE Atlantic

Description
The Azores are located at a plateau in the north-east Mid Atlantic Ridge. They are formed by 9 islands, a set of small islets and numerous submerged seamounts, all from volcanic origin back to around 8 million years and active to date. The Azores are also part to the OSPAR Region V or wider Atlantic. In this SEAMOUNTS'09 keynote Ricardo Santos gives an overview of the human activities with actual or potential impact in seamounts, mainly fisheries, their actual status and the existing legal framework and special regulations put in place for the management and conservation of seamount habitats and seamount living resources. Reference is made to the OSPAR network of MAPs and their high-seas component. The EC is now leading a strategic paper "The Deepsea Frontier" which is having consequence on the research funding of the 7th Frame Work Program. Following important steps initiated by research projects like OASIS and HERMES a new set of new integrated research projects are now in place, following the calls made by EC-DGR, tackling the exploration of seamounts of the wider Atlantic and the Mediterranean (e.g. MADE, CoralFish, HERMIONE, DEECON). The Azores are also leading national and bi-lateral research projects (e.g. CORAZÓN and CONDOR). This last one is a plan for the installation of a seafloor and water column observatory at the Condor Seamount.