The Sargasso Sea

12 Jun 2012 – 6:00 pm - 7:40 pm

This event has taken place

The Sargasso Sea is a huge area of water in the central North Atlantic Ocean that turns clockwise due to movement of the ocean currents it is bound by. The free-floating mats of algae (Sargassum spp.) that aggregate within this gyre support high biological diversity and hosts life at the surface for birds, in the water column for marine fauna and on the sea floor as well. Several of the associated species have life-history patterns and ecologies specifically adapted to the floating weed including an endemic pipefish, a snail and a crab. In addition, the Sargasso Sea provides important shelter, nurseries, spawning and feeding grounds for many pelagic species of turtles, birds and fish. For example, species of eels from European and North American rivers migrate to the Sargasso to spawn.
Although a portion of the Sargasso Sea is always within Bermuda's jurisdiction, most of it lies in the international high seas, making the protection and management of this unique ecosystem particularly difficult.

This meeting will highlight the unique ecosystem supported by the Sargasso Sea and its importance both for endemic species of animals and plants, and marine biodiversity generally. Further, we will use the Sargasso Sea as a case study to show the importance of protecting the high seas, and discuss the collective conservation efforts of policy makers, extractive industries and conservation science. Finally, the importance of the Sargasso Sea to a particular species, the European eel - equally as unusual as the Sea itself - will be presented.

Listen to the event

Speakers

Howard Roe The Sargasso Sea — a vital area of the global ocean
Sargasso Sea Alliance, Emeritus Director Southampton Oceanography Centre

Dan Laffoley The protection and management of the Sargasso Sea — the wider picture
Marine Vice Chair, IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas Senior Advisor Marine Science & Conservation, IUCN

David Righton The long slow road to the Sargasso: the quest to find the eel spawning area
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science

Chaired and organised by Matthew Gollock, Institute of Zoology

Further Information: please contact Megan Orpwood-Russell, Scientific Meetings Coordinator, Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, London NW1 4RY.
Tel:+44 (0)20 7449 6227. Fax: +44 (0)20 7449 6411. E-mail: megan.orpwood-russell@zsl.org.

This event in the 'Wildlife Conservation' series will begin at 6.00pm (doors from 5.00pm) and talks are scheduled to finish at 7.45pm; admission is free and open to everyone (no advance booking or registration required). This event will be held in the ZSL Meeting Rooms and seats will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

ZSL Science and Conservation Events: An essential part of ZSL's work is to communicate relevant, high-quality zoological and conservation science. The integrated ZSL Science and Conservation Events programme includes Symposia, and the new 'Wildlife Conservation' and 'Communicating Science' series. Topics cover a wide variety of zoological and conservation themes, and international experts present and discuss their research.