Anthropogenic impacts on the Corner Rise seamounts, north-west Atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Here we report the first direct underwater observations of extensive human-caused impacts on two remote seamounts in the Corner Rise complex (north-western Atlantic). This note documents evidence of anthropogenic damage on the summits of Kükenthal peak (on Corner Seamount) and Yakutat Seamount, likely resulting from a limited Russian fishery from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, highlighting how bottom trawling can have long-term detrimental effects on deep-water benthic fauna.