State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Report

Dear Colleagues

I would like to bring your attention to a new report „The State of the Arctic Marine Biodiversity Report“ (SAMBR) released by the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), the biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council.

This Report identifies trends in key marine species and points to important gaps in biodiversity monitoring efforts across key ecosystem components in: sea ice biota, plankton, benthos, marine fishes, seabirds and marine mammals.

Changes in these species are likely to indicate changes in the overall marine environment. The report found that changing food availability, loss of ice habitat, increases in contagious diseases, and the impending invasion of southern species are taking their toll on Arctic marine animals, and pointing to an ecosystem on the verge of a major shift.

The SAMBR provides a status on Arctic biodiversity monitoring, identifying gaps in monitoring activities and a status on where those activities are taking place (see attached graphic).

The report provides advice to improve Arctic biodiversity monitoring activities to provide scientific information to policy makers more quickly. These include better coordination, standardisation of methods, improved consideration of Traditional and Local Knowledge, and attention to filling key information gaps.

Further information can be found here: www.arcticbiodiversity.is/marine

The data generated for this report can be found on CAFFs Arctic Biodiversity Data Service (ABDS)

Please share this with the GEOBON community

Best regards

Tom
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Tom Barry
Executive Secretary
Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF)
Arctic Council Working group
Borgir, Nordurslod
600 Akureyri, Iceland

Source: MARINE-B