Resumen de An overview on biodiversity and ecosystems off Mauritanian deep-waters

Ana Ramos Martos, José Luis Sanz, José Luis Pelegrí Llopart, Lourdes Fernández Peralta, Pedro José Pascual Alayón, Francisco Ramil Blanco, Sara Castillo Oñate, Eva García-Isarch, Francisco Rocha Valdés, Marta Gil González, Belén Calero Blanco

• Human activities in continental margins have progressively increased during the last decades, threatening vulnerable marine ecosystems in many continental slopes, such as cold-water coral reefs, seamounts and canyons. In order to protect these ecosystems and ensure the sustainable management of resources, countries and organizations should endorse effective policy actions. However, nowadays about only 0.8% of the oceans and 6% of the territorial seas belong to conservation area systems, a lack of protection that is particularly acute in deep-sea waters. The Mauritanian continental margin is the outcome of exceptional marine features, with abrupt canyon systems, sediment slides and a giant carbonate.