Deep-sea sponges are organisms of great interest as often they act as ecosystem engineers and they have high potential as a source of pharmaceutical compounds.

Deep-sea sponge communities at FSC are a particularly interesting subject of study taking into account human activities taking place there (fisheries, oil and gas) as well as the long-term changes in key water-mass characteristics.

Georgios presented the new sponge morphotype catalogue that he and his colleagues developed, along with measurements on sponge density and size. This information allows for both baseline and future assessments of anthropogenic and climate change impacts on deep-sea sponge aggregations’ environmental status in the FSC, thus guiding adaptive management.          

Georgios presentation was titled “Distribution, density and size of deep-sea sponge morphotypes in the Faroe-Shetland Channel Sponge Belt Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area”.

with contributing authors Georgios Kazanidis, Johanne Vad, Lea-Anne Henry, Francis Neat, Bee Berx, Kostantinos Georgoulas, J Murray Roberts"