Poster Presentation Australian Marine Sciences Association 2026 Conference

Climate change is intensifying pressures on marine ecosystems through warming, acidification, deoxygenation, and shifting species distributions. Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs)—such as deep-sea coral reefs and seamounts, —are particularly at risk due to their fragility, slow recovery, and importance for biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. Many global initiatives are already calling for protection of such ecosystems, integrating climate resilience into marine protected area design, and mobilizing scientific collaboration to identify climate refugia and ecological tipping points.  Crucially, Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) must play a central role by adopting binding measures to prohibit destructive practices such as bottom trawling, enforcing compliance, and embedding ecosystem-based approaches into fisheries governance.  By situating VMEs within the broader climate crisis, this paper highlights the need for science-policy integration, global cooperation, and regional enforcement. Protecting VMEs through coordinated initiatives and strengthened RFMO action is indispensable to achieving the he United Nations General Assembly Resolutions on protecting VMEs, the UNCLOS Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.