In addressing the continuing request for a list of indicator species sensitive to physical disturbance of the seabed, the Benthos Ecology Working Group (BEWG) reviewed its previous reports as well as the 1994 report of the Working Group on Ecosystem Effects of Fishing Activities. The BEWG accepted the definitions and characteristics of vulnerable species established in these earlier reports, but organized some of the information in a slightly different manner so as to produce a set of criteria that might be broadly applicable within the ICES area. Further, the use of the term "sensitive" is preferred over "vulnerable" to describe species that may be affected in some way by physical disturbances. Of special note here, however, is that not only have the direct effects on individuals been considered (which is the central theme of the definition of vulnerability in the 1994 report), but the discussion has been extended to include characteristics that might lead to local extinction of a species given sufficiently intensive repetition of the physical disturbance.
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