Cold-water corals in danger
2004-06-07 13:50
Paris - Cold-water corals, lesser known than their warm-water cousins, are much more widespread than previously thought but nevertheless face serious threat, the United Nations warned on Friday.
Launching an appeal, the UN Environment Programme (Unep) said cold-water corals, unlike the warm-water type in the tropics, are usually found in depths between 200 and 1 000m and in waters of between four and 13 degrees.
They can even occur in waters as deep as 6 300m.
Cold-water corals build beautiful but fragile three-dimensional lace work structures, which are particularly vulnerable to damage from heavy deep-sea fishing gear.
"Some reefs in the East Atlantic have already been destroyed, and most others show scars from trawling," Unep said in a written statement.
The new findings are included in a report being published at an International Coral Reef Initiative meeting in Okinawa, Japan, between July 3 and 4.
That is set to follow the 10th International Coral Reef Symposium which opens on June 28.
"We are finding not only new species of corals and cold-water corals in new locations but associated organisms, like snails and clams, that were believed by palaeontologists to have become extinct two million years ago," said Andre Freiwald, professor at the German University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, who has led explorations.
Cold-water corals grow at only a tenth of the growth rate of warm-water tropical corals.
Targeted by trawlers
Many of the fish species found living in and around cold-water corals are also slow growing and have lower reproductive rates than shallower living species such as herring and cod.
These deep-water fish are increasingly being targeted as trawlers switch from traditional, depleted fishing grounds to deeper ones.
"Other threats include impacts from oil and gas exploration and production, the laying of cables and telecommunications links and waste disposal," Unep said.
The UN agency hopes the discovery that cold-water corals are more widespread will spur other nations to introduce measures to protect them by, for example, designating cold-water coral reefs within marine protected areas.
A number of countries - Norway, Ireland, Britain and the United States - have begun implementing tighter protection.
Six types of cold-water corals have been registered compared with more than 700 warm-water species. Cold-water corals are part of a group of organisms know as Cnidaria, which means stinging nettles and include anemones and sea pens. They are closely related to the species forming reefs in warm, tropical waters.