A white deep-sea coral fan with its skinny limbs stretching up from the sea floor like the skeleton of a paper fan.
Thick black smoke from within the Earth spews out of chimney-stack like hydrothermal vents.
A translucent violetpurple anemone with an orange centre waves its limbs in the deep sea current.
Coral Fan | Black Smoker | Anemone | Credit: Ocean networks Canada (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
This dark and enchanting oasis of the deep is home to unique marine life. Seamounts and hydrothermal vents host some of Earth's most fascinating ocean ecosystems.
Canada's newest Marine Protected Area in Haida, Quatsino, Pacheedaht, and Nuu-chah-nulth Territory far offshore of Vancouver Island.
This map data comes from Native Land Digital. It does not represent or intend to represent official or legal boundaries of any Indigenous nations.
This map is not perfect – it is a work in progress with contributions from the community.
To learn about definitive boundaries, contact the Nations in question.
The Indigenous name consists of:
• a Haida word meaning deep ocean (Tang.ɢwan; phonetic spelling: Tung – Gwun, where G is a voiced uvular stop)
• a Nuu-chah-nulth and Pacheedaht word meaning deepest part of the ocean (ḥačxwiqak; phonetic spelling: huch/khwi/kuk)
• a Quatsino word referring to a monster of the deep (Tsig̱is; phonetic spelling: tsee-geese)
The Tang.ɢwan – ḥačxwiqak – Tsig̱is MPA covers 2.3% of all ocean area in Canada.
Within the vastTang.ɢwan – ḥačxwiqak – Tsig̱is MPA was the former Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents Marine Protected Area.
Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents Marine Protected Area was the first MPA created under Canada's Oceans Act in 2003. This tiny MPA, less than 100 km²,protected important deep sea ecosystems, including life-giving hydrothermal vents.
The Endeavour MPA protected about 0.06% of the proposed Tang.ɢwan – ḥačxwiqak – Tsig̱is area. The remaining 99% containing all known hydrothermal vents fields in Canada are protected with the new MPA.
In 2017, a large portion of this area (82,500 km²) was designated as a fishing closure by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. This fishing closure restricted bottom-contact fisheries to protect seamounts and hydrothermal vents.
But this fishing closure only prevented bottom-contact fishing gear from damaging the seafloor.
The areas highlighted in yellow are internationally recognized as Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas, or biodiversity hotspots. Biodiversity hotspots have special ecological or biological significance compared to the surrounding ecosystem. and are home to thousands of irreplaceable species. These ecosystems are facing urgent threats from human industrial activity.
The yellow circles cover seamounts and the zig-zag follows the hydrothermal venting system, including the Endeavour MPA.
The hydrothermal vent biodiversity hotspot alone is 5000 km² bigger than the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage Site, which includes Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Kootenay, as well as Mount Robson, Mount Assiniboine, and Hamber provincial parks.
In fact, at 133 000 km², the proposed Tang.ɢwan – ḥačxwiqak – Tsig̱is MPA will protect an area bigger than Iceland!
The new marine protected area implements Canada’s new MPA Protection Standard: prohibiting bottom trawling, oil and gas activities, mining, and ocean dumping.
To protect the more sensitive Union and Dellwood seamounts and the habitats and species they support, each seamount has its own management zone, only allowing fishing above a depth of 100 metres.
To continue to preserve the naturalness of the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents, only allows activities for public safety and national security, cable laying and possibly some research activities in the vent fields.
Backed by strong and effective protection, The Tang.ɢwan – ḥačxwiqak – Tsig̱is MPA supports healthy marine animals and a thriving ocean.
Marine Protected Areas
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are like conservation areas on land, but in the ocean. These federally protected areas nurture important habitats, species, and ecosystems within.
A Steller sea lion's head breaks the glassy ocean surface, exhaling a misty spray.
A Brittle Star with slender, whip-like orange arms wraps around a quill-like Sea Pen.
This anemone has long tentacles waving in the deepsea currents.
A purple octopus curls up on the deepsea floor.
Clockwise: Steller Sea Lion - Credit: Markus Thompson | Brittle Star and Sea Pen | Octopus | Anemone - Credit: Ocean Networks Canada (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Marine Protected Areas safeguard biodiversity and act as buffers against climate change. These pockets of healthy habitat are resilient. MPAs help ecosystems adapt to climate stressors, such as ocean acidification and warming oceans, and thrive.
Marine Protected Areas
The government of Canada has pledged to protect 30 percent of its ocean estate by 2030. Scientists state that at least 30 percent of the ocean needs protecting by 2030 (30x30) to build the resilience of ocean life to adapt to climate change and buffer against other threats from human activity like overfishing.
Aerial view of the islands on the southern tip of Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Reserve and Haida Heritage Site.
A tiny sea snail with a spiral tower shell clings to kelp.
Left to Right: Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area Reserve and Haida Heritage Site - Credit: Sabine Jessen | Sea Snail - Credit: Doug Biffard
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Parks Canada, and Environment and Climate Change Canada currently designate and manage marine protected areas across Canada's ocean estate. There are currently 18 federal MPAs.
According to DFO, Canada is on track to reach the 30% target by 2030, with over 15% of our ocean currently protected by both MPAs and Other Effective Conservation Measures. This is a great start but a higher quantity and quality of protection is needed to sustain and restore the ecological integrity of the marine environment.
Canada's new MPA protection standard has not been implemented in many MPAs. For example, bottom trawling is still allowed to take place in some protected areas. Safeguards against shipping impacts, oil & gas exploration, and seafloor mining are not in effect. Protected areas that lack meaningful protection are sometimes called paper parks. Because of this, most MPAs are not strongly protected according to CPAWS's MPA Monitor report.
Deep Sea Biology
The deep sea is home to many weird and wonderful creatures.
01 / 13
HYDROTHERMAL VENTS
Hydrothermal vents are like underwater volcanoes, forming around tectonic plates and expelling hot plumes of mineral-rich gases. They are home to species that are uniquely adapted to extreme conditions, such as chemosynthetic bacteria.
Thick black smoke plumes rise out of these towering hydrothermal vents jutting from the seafloor
Unlike most life on Earth, which derives its energy either directly or indirectly from the sun, these bacteria are able to acquire energy from chemicals released by underwater vents. Sunlight doesn't penetrate this far down in the ocean, so chemosynthesis has amazingly allowed life to thrive where no one had ever imagined it could. In fact, these bacteria may give us insight into how like on Earth began.
Studies suggest that 85% of vent species are endemic and new species are being found all the time. For example, a species of microbe was found here in the Pacific Ocean that may be the world's most heat-tolerant species, able to survive in over 121°C, at which point the device measuring temperature failed.
SEAMOUNTS
Seamounts are underwater mountains. Reaching over 3000 metres in height in some locations, they provide structure and variety to an otherwise flat abyssal plain.
A pacific blood star, so named due to its bright red colouring, sits among giant barnacles.
Blood star among giant barnacles - Credit: Ocean Networks Canada (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
An up-flow of nutrient-rich water around seamounts attracts a wide variety of species, including corals, anemones, feather stars, fish, whales, turtles, and sharks.
Scientists estimate the Pacific Ocean contains anywhere from 50 to 50 000 seamounts, with more than 50 being found in the Tang.ɢwan – ḥačxwiqak – Tsig̱is.
In 2018, six new seamounts were discovered off BC's coast, along with ancient coral forests and several new marine species!
DUMBO OCTOPUS
Dumbo octopuses are not just one species but an entire genus of deep sea octopuses. Like its famous namesake, dumbo octopuses flap their ear-like flippers to move. Their arms are connected by a web of skin, causing them to resemble umbrellas when their arms are spread apart.
GLASS SPONGE REEFS
Glass sponge reefs of the Pacific Northwest are perfectly at home here in our exploration of ‘Creatures of the Deep’. That’s because all sponges are actually living animals; and when they form on top of the remains of old sponges they form reefs.
Two vase-shaped glass sponges growing side by side in Barkley Canyon
Glass sponge reefs are only found in the Pacific Northwest. Canada is lucky to have these unique and ancient animals, once thought to be extinct, right off our coast.
GUMMY SQUIRREL (Sea Cucumber)
The so-called “gummy squirrel” consumes detritus, dead organic material floating in the water, and plankton while using its squirrel-like tail to help keep it balanced in the current.
Its bright body colours ward off predators who mistake it for being poisonous
TUBE WORMS & THEIR BACTERIA
Chemosynthetic bacteria form the basis of life in the deep sea.
Previously, all life was thought to derive energy from sunlight directly (like plants), or indirectly (like animals that eat plants).
How Giant Tube Worms Survive at Hydrothermal Vents | I Contain Multitudes
The video explains how giant tube worms use bacteria (and maybe some dark, pseudo magic) to survive in the deep sea.
SEA PIG (Sea Cucumber)
This ‘sea pig’ is actually a type of sea cucumber, and is a member of the Holothuridea family, which includes detritus-eating bottom-feeders. Sea cucumbers are often found in shallow waters, so it was quite a discovery to see them at 2300m
HEAT-TOLERANT MICROBES
With temperatures well beyond 100 degrees C, it’s hard to believe anything could survive around these spewing hydrothermal vent plumes. But rather than a barren volcano, scientists discovered an explosion of life from giant tube worms, to clams, to polychaete worms - more than 500 animals have been found living exclusively on vents.
Many organisms living on hydrothermal vents are endemic to that particular vent, and would not survive a different one.
SALPS
What may look like the long limbs of an enormous octopus is actually a string of individual salps jet-pumping their way through the open sea. Salps are a type of tunicate, clear barrel-shaped animals that feed on tiny particles in the ocean. These colonies of salps form beautiful and mesmerizing arrays of lights in the dark sea.
Sometimes small creatures sneak inside the body of the salps to hitch a ride and make a home!
Threats to the Deep Sea
The rich biodiversity of the deep sea is under threat.
Hundreds of fish extracted from the deep sea, wrapped up tightly in a net, lay on the wharf, far from their final resting place.
Deep sea fishing - Kambou Sia AFP Getty Images
Unfortunately, we are destroying deep sea habitat and losing species at a higher rate than we are able to protect them. Bottom-contact fishing, deep sea mining, and weak, fragmented protection measures all pose serious threats to the deep sea environment.
BOTTOM-CONTACT FISHING
Bottom-contact fishing such as bottom trawling and trap fishing is highly destructive to the seafloor. Bottom trawling frequently kills non-target species (known as bycatch). Studies have shown that deep sea habitats often show no signs of recovery even years after trawling was allowed in an area.
Bottom-contact gear can scrape along the seafloor leaving scars even 800m below the sea surface.
Bottom-contact gear can cause scars on the seabed, even 800m below the surface - Ryan Whaller National Geographic
Tang.ɢwan – ḥačxwiqak – Tsig̱is is full of ecologically and biologically sensitive areas and habitats with complex 3D structures such as seamounts and hydrothermal vents. These habitats are easily damaged by bottom-contact fishing such as bottom trawling.
Orange and pink coral growing in the Endeavour vent Field - Ocean Networks Canada (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
A school of juvenile Mola Mola sunfish at the sea surface.
A school of black rockfish around Folger Pinnacle.
An octopus puffs up its limbs to protect it's small garden.
Clockwise: Orange and pink coral | Mola Mola sunfish | School of rockfish | Octopus - Ocean Networks Canada (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Habitat destruction will inevitably impact the many species that aggregate around them - including sunfish, marine mammals, and rockfish.
DEEP SEA MINING
Mineral exploration is another imminent threat to the deep sea.
A Remotely Operated underwater Vehicle (ROV) removes the top of a chimney of a hydrothermal vent and is bringing it to the surface in hopes of extracting precious minerals and elements.
ROV removing a piece of a hydrothermal vent chimney - Nautilus Minerals
Mineral mining is a rapidly growing industry as seamounts and hydrothermal vents often contain vast amounts of metals and minerals. Needed for batteries and other technologies for a low carbon future, they are increasingly unavailable or difficult to access on land.
All forms of mining in the deep sea, whether for manganese nodules or cobalt-rich crusts, involve extraction from the seabed.
Magnesium nodules litter the seafloor like golf balls in a water trap.
Harvesting a hydrothermal vent reveals the molten core.
ROV harvesting a barnacle covered rock from the seafloor.
Left to Right : Magnesium Nodules - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute | ROV harvesting hydrothermal vent | ROV seabed mining - Nautilus Minerals
The Uncomfortable Truth About Deep Sea Mining
This process inevitably destroys the habitats and species that call these areas home; an irreversible process that is not likely to recover within our lifetime.
Bottom-trawling drags a net along the sea bed which kicks up enormous clouds of silt which can choke marine life. Sometimes these clouds of sediment and silt are so big they can be seen from space. In this image from NASA, the tracks of the trawling ships can be seen as easily distinguishable lines, almost as stark as white chalk on slate.
Impacts of bottom-trawling for shrimp - NASA image by Jesse Allen Public Domain
Just like these plumes caused by trawling, on an industrial scale, mining can create plumes of sediment that smother fragile benthic species, dump waste waters near the surface, and cayuse constant light and noise disturbance to species and habitats that have evolved to use sound to communicate.
These threats are not hypothetical.
Commercial deep sea mining operations have already begun in many places in the world. In fact, one of the leading mining companies is registered in Canada.
FRAGMENTED PROTECTION
The intention of Aichi Target 11 was the protection of whole, integrated marine ecosystems, not just individual components of it. While hydrothermal vents, seamounts, glass sponge reefs, and cold water corals are really important to protect, so are all the marine animals in the water around and above them.
Loggerhead turtles travel long distances.
Juvenile Loggerhead Sea Turtle - NOAA
As it currently stands, only the sensitive benthic areas are being considered for protection, diminishing the overall effectiveness of the MPA towards its goal. We need protection of Tang.ɢwan – ḥačxwiqak – Tsig̱is from surface to seafloor.
Why Protect the Deep Sea
The mysteries of the deep sea are only just being revealed. Less than 15% of the seafloor has been mapped to high resolution. Deep sea species and habitats support commercial species such as rockfish and halibut which are of economic, social, and cultural importance to our coastal communities and beyond.
A pink octopus stretches it’s limbs from one boulder to another on the seafloor.
A black and yellow rockfish glides by a purple anemone at ONC's Folger Pinnacle observatory.
A reddish/orange rockfish at Barkley Canyon, we can also see two green dots which are lasers from the ROV used to measure observation in-situ. These lasers are calibrated to a known measurement and can be used as a scale.
Left to Right : Octopus at Mothra | Yellow and black rockfish | Reddish/orange Rockfish - Ocean Networks Canada (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Amongst the towering seamounts and bubbling sea plumes, there may be valuable discoveries that could aid in medicine, pharmaceuticals, disease prevention, and genetic resources. Discoveries like heat-tolerant microbes could have applications to science and technology.
Seamounts and hydrothermal vents provide habitat for a variety of marine organisms, from chemosynthetic bacteria and yeti crabs to whales and sharks that swim around on the surface above them. Some of the species of the deep sea, such as glass sponges, are centuries old.
Some tiny shrimp wander the exterior of a glass sponge.
Left to Right: Glass sponge reef at Galiano Ridge | Several small shrimp crawl along the surface of a glass sponge - Ocean Networks Canada (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
OCEAN CONDITIONS & CLIMATE CHANGE
The world’s ocean absorbs the vast majority of the earth’s atmospheric carbon. Carbon storage means less carbon in the atmosphere, which helps slow climate change. In that way, the ocean provides an ecosystem service which greatly benefits earth’s ecosystems and life forms - including us.
An orange coral grows on the side of a seamount surrounded by even more orange fish.
Coral growing on a seamount - Ocean Exploration Trust
Vent systems have also been shown to be important for carbon storage and cycling, meaning they may play a vital role in climate regulation. This is yet another reason why deep sea ecosystems such as the bountiful life in the proposed Deepsea Oasis urgently need protection.
The ocean covers 71% of the earth, half of which is beneath 3000m. And while only 5% of the deep sea has been explored, this whole new world is already yielding amazing and awe-inspiring encounters.
As it stands, less than 15% of the ocean has escaped significant impacts caused by human activities, and unless we act quickly, these impacts will continue to threaten the unique biodiversity of the deep sea.
The Future of the Deep Sea
What lays ahead for our precious and thriving oasis?
Pink, orange, and white cold water corals growing in a cluster deep beneath the ocean surface.
Colourful cold water corals - Oceana
Tang.ɢwan – ḥačxwiqak – Tsig̱is is the first MPA to implement Canada’s new MPA Protection Standard, prohibiting oil and gas exploration and exploitation, mining, dumping and bottom trawling. But other activities including other industrial fishing and shipping are still permitted in current MPAs.
Industrial fishing, including longline and seine fishing is damaging to marine life, both by the intended and unintended animals they catch on their hooks and large nets.
A fish is trapped in an abandoned fishing net.
Fish caught in an abandoned net - Frank Baensch Blue Reef Photography
When fishing gear is lost at sea, it sinks to the bottom and continues to catch fish, turtles, sharks, and other marine animals for years to come. This phenomenon is called “ghost fishing”.
Shipping traffic also poses a variety of direct and indirect threats to marine life. Marine creatures that spend time at the surface, such as whales, dolphins, and sea turtles, are sometimes struck by vessels, resulting in moderate to severe injury, and even death.
Vessel Traffic above the Deepsea Oasis
The engines of large tankers, cruise ships, fishing vessels, and tugboats all produce noise. When you add up all the vessels passing over the oceans surface, this noise accumulates and can drown out vocalizations which animals use to find food, avoid predation, and communicate with one another.
There is a threat that the moratorium on oil & gas exploration in the area could be lifted, and there are no specific regulations on mineral exploration unless the area gets designated a federal marine protected area.
IUCN Global Standard for Marine Protected Areas
The ocean is a complex and dynamic place; it needs dynamic and adaptive protective measures. Strictly regulated and well-managed marine protected areas are a proven tool to effectively protect marine biodiversity and fragile ecosystems such as the hydrothermal vents and seamounts of the deep sea.
Studies have shown that the most effective protection takes the form of large, long-standing, and strictly protected areas.
CPAWS-BC continues to advocate for stronger protections for the Tang.ɢwan – ḥačxwiqak – Tsig̱is MPA, so that these biodiversity hotspots are fully protected from current and future threats.
CPAWS-BC is working to ensure that the seamounts, hydrothermal vents, and other important features of the Deepsea Oasis receive the protections they deserve. Sign up now to receive the latest conservation news and updates right to your inbox.
