Region 3: Azorean Waters

These waters straddle the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, lying within a large open ocean and deepsea ecosystem, home to many pelagic and deep-water species including 25 species of deep-water sharks, 11 of pelagic elasmobranchs and 4 of sea turtles. The Azores, an outermost region of the European Union, has been identified as a Mid-Atlantic hotspot of marine megafauna. Deep-water elasmobranchs are increasingly being exposed to fishing pressures, and are commonly caught as bycatch by the Azorean demersal hook-and-line fisheries.

Cold-water corals are also an occasional bycatch of this fishery, a vulnerable species often overlooked with regard to fishing pressures, with limited knowledge about its rate and impact. The incidental capture of turtles and vulnerable shark species in pelagic long-line fisheries is also prevalent and raises concern.