Goal: Achieve 153,789 km² of Proposed new protections for the Emperor Seamount Chain

The Alliance is working with the Deep-Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC), a network of more than 100 conservation organizations, to advocate for the protection of the Emperor Seamounts. The DSCC works worldwide to remove and mitigate the greatest threats to life in the deep sea and safeguard the long-term health, integrity, and resilience of deep-sea ecosystems.

The Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount Chain is a mostly underwater 6,000 km long mountain range in the North Pacific Ocean that is inhabited by a diverse collection of marine life, including whales, sponges, sea birds, cold-water corals, and commercially valuable fish species. Among these, black corals are some of the oldest animals on Earth, with colonies dating back an astonishing 4,200 years.

Since the 1960s, the Emperor Seamount Chain has experienced extreme levels of exploitative fishing practices that threaten the area’s benthic habitat and biodiversity. Bottom trawling, widely considered the most destructive form of fishing, has left a lasting impact on significant portions of the Emperor Seamount Chain and is linked to significant declines of certain fish stocks in the region.   

Deep-sea species are highly vulnerable to bottom trawling because they are characterized by slower growth, slower metabolism, late maturity, and low reproductive outputs compared to those in shallow water. Recovery of these habitats is possible, but signs of recovery often aren’t seen until about 40-50 years after trawling has ceased. 

Because the Emperor Seamounts lie outside of any one nation’s territorial waters, this high-seas area is governed by a series of overlapping international and regional sectoral bodies. The North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) is the regional fisheries management organization responsible for managing bottom fishing on the Emperor Seamounts and ensuring vulnerable ecosystems are protected from its impacts.

Through our partnership with the Deep-Sea Conservation Coalition, we will advocate for the protection of the Emperor Seamount Chain by the NPFC.