July 2, 2004
The destruction continues….
BY: Tatiana
Good story on the Environment News Service (ENS, registration required) today — “Thousands of Years Old, Cold-Water Corals Ripped by Trawlers“:
Research with sophisticated underwater camera technology and deep-sea vehicles has begun to shed new light on cold-water corals, little known in comparison to the tropical corals found in warmer waters. At risk from trawlers and undersea cables, cold-water corals are attracting attention this week as representatives from governments, nongovernmental organizations and coral reef experts meet in Okinawa for the 10th International Coral Reef Symposium.
The latest research, published in a United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) report entitled “Cold-water coral reefs: out of sight – no longer out of mind,” shows that these corals are found in almost all the world’s oceans and some have already been destroyed or scarred.
For more coverage check out Jason and Santi‘s entries on this important report.
To check out UNEP’s report: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/
And make sure to visit Oceana’s site to check out what we are doing to protect the world’s deep sea coral gardens!