Towards an international census of marine life research programme on seamounts

摘要

The Census of Marine Life (CoML) is a worldwide science initiative promoting research to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of species throughout the world's oceans (; Decker and O'Dor 2003). As one of severalactivities, the CoML fosters international field programmes to facilitate research into under-explored marine ecosystems. Recognizing the growing scientific interest in seamounts, the Census of Marine Life hosted an international workshop on seamounts on22-24 August 2003 at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon, USA. The goals of the workshop were to (a) evaluate the existing state of knowledge of seamounts, (b) determine the priorities for future seamount research, (c) outline the next steps required to address these research priorities and (d), evaluate the potential role of the CoML in fostering research progress through an international field programme.