Hidden dimensions of the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP): Exploration for conservation of a deep-ocean multi-country seascape

The deep ocean, often regarded as the blue planet's last and expansive frontier, presents a formidable challenge for effective conservation and management. In partnership with the Bezos Earth Fund, we explore the challenges and potential of deep-ocean research for conservation across the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR), an expansive transboundary seascape larger than France shared between Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador.

A five-year initiative (2024-2028) seeks to bridge the gap between deep-ocean science, management, governance, and the user community in the region. Collaborating between local Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) country partners, a new regional Deep-Ocean Research Alliance draws upon the call to action framed by the UN Decade of Ocean Science and the international ocean science community. We highlight the relevance and urgency of coordinating unique sampling opportunities presented by academia, private, and philanthropic ocean exploration programs to fill critical knowledge gaps and progressively build regional and in-country technical capacity to fast-track deep-ocean recommendations and criteria for practical management strategies for Eastern Pacific resource managers.

Relevance for Marine Conservation: Fringed and subject to industry in international waters, with recent expansions, the protected areas in the ETP now cover over 630,000 km², predominantly comprising poorly mapped and little-understood deep-ocean habitats. They harbour unique biodiversity and vulnerable long-lived deep coral, sponge, methane seeps, deep mounts, seamounts, abyssal plains, and hydrothermal habitats. They play critical roles in nutrient cycling, carbon storage, migratory species connectivity, and climate regulation, offering valuable insights into past ocean environments and predictions of future climate scenarios.

Despite their ecological significance, operational challenges hinder the integration of deep-water science into ETP marine planning and management. These challenges include research costs, logistical and permit complexities, limited baseline data, “parachute science,” and low community awareness. Additionally, climate shifts and pollution, alongside competing ocean use and unregulated fishing, threaten vulnerable deep-sea habitats, such as ancient deep reefs and seamount biodiversity hotspots susceptible to rapid destruction from bottom trawling. As we build a portfolio for future ETP deep-ocean research, we also consider mechanisms such as equitable benefit sharing to help develop emerging industries such as bio-innovation into future deep-ocean conservation finance.