Sensitive Benthic Areas: Sensitive benthic areas are areas that are vulnerable to a proposed or ongoing fishing activity.

Take a look at the most common animals and insects found in Arizona.

Is it supposed to protect the benthic area directly below the water column along the sea floor?

A benthic community is a group of organisms that live on, in or near a seabed.

Estimation of the consequence of an overlap between the significant benthic area(s) and the fishing activity which utilizes the gear type under consideration

The benthic zone for an ocean consists of the ocean floor, the layer containing sediments, and its sub layers.

Estimation of the likelihood of an overlap between the significant benthic area(s) and the fishing activity which utilizes the gear type under consideration

Above the abyssal zone is the benthic zone, a nutrient-rich layer that contains seaweed, bacteria, fungi, sponges, fish and other fauna.

i) modifications or additional devices to improve selectivity or to reduce impact on the benthic zone;

The Benthic zone is home to snails, giant squids, mudworms, sea cucumbers, and about 155,000 other kinds of marine animals.

As a deepsea and benthic zone ecologist, he focused on the biological and physical exchange process at the seafloor-water interface.

Vulnerability will be determined based on the level of harm that the fishing activity may have on the benthic area by degrading ecosystem functions or impairing productivity.

It occurs mainly in the benthic zone of coastal waters at depths of less than 30 m, on coralligenous reefs or in estuaries and lagoons.

Management options developed for one type of significant benthic area (e.g. solitary black corals) may not be suitable for another type of significant benthic area (e.g. widely distributed sea pens).

Management measures may be required to mitigate or avoid serious or irreversible harm to significant benthic areas, depending on the specific circumstances of the fishery and the significant benthic areas in question.

Free-living forms are associated with decomposing organic material, biofilm on the surfaces of rocks and plants, suspended in the water column, and in the sediments of the benthic and profundal zones.