Ecosystem overviews

Central Arctic Ocean Ecosystem Overview

Ecosystem description

​​​​​​The Central Arctic Ocean ecoregion (Figure 1) mostly comprises high seas areas remote from any landmass, including deep basins and slopes up to depths of approximately 500 m, as well as some shallower shelf areas of the bordering Beaufort/Chukchi and East Siberian/Laptev seas. The boundary of the ecoregion follows the outer slopes on the Eurasian side from the Chukchi Sea to the Barents Sea, the shelf edge of north Greenland and the Canadian High Arctic, and runs along the 76°N parallel or the 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) in the Beaufort/Chukchi seas.

The Central Arctic Ocean ecoregion seabed consists of two large deep basins (between 3800 and 4500 m deep), the Eurasian Basin, and the Amerasian Basin, separated by the Lomonosov Ridge. This ~1300 m deep ridge consists of steep slopes rising about 3000 m above the seabed.
 
The Arctic Ocean is governed by the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS). The areas within the EEZs and the continental shelves are under the jurisdiction of the coastal states: the Russian Federation, the United States, Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark (Greenland), and the Kingdom of Norway. There are pending claims made to the UN Continental Shelf Commission (CLCS) from coastal states regarding the outer limits of their continental shelves.
 
International governance of the Arctic Ocean under UNCLOS and other treaties (e.g. those concerning climate change) have been strengthened over the last decade through several regional agreements such as: the Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response in the Arctic (2013), the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code; 2017), the Agreement on Enhancing International Arctic Scientific Cooperation (2017), and the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean (2018). Under the latter, the parties will not permit their vessels to engage in commercial fishing in the high seas of the ecoregion until 2037 at the earliest. This will depend on scientific assessments documenting commercial viability of resources yet to be discovered.
 
The Arctic states, consisting of the coastal states plus Finland, Iceland, and Sweden, carry the role of stewards of the region in the Arctic Council.
 
As the ecoregion is largely understudied, information from adjacent seas and nearby areas was used to inform this ecosystem overview.
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​Figure 1: The Central Arctic Ocean ecoregion (in blue, with depth gradient), adjacent seas, and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs).​

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Central Arctic Ocean Ecosystem Overview

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