Paul (and other coral enthusiasts);
All over the world, many species of coral (both Octo- and hexacorals)
occur in deeper water, down to 5800m. Their shallow-water relatives, at
least the ones that build reefs, have long grabbed most of the glory,
but the immense ecological and probable economic signifigance of
non-reef-building deeper-water corals is just now bieng realized. The
work has just begun: since they can't be studied by diving, it is
expensive and difficult to study the habitats they dominate One of the
main problems currently is that the deep-water coral "banks" or
"forests", are being destroyed at an incredible rate by dragging
technology often designed specifically to crush and break off the
branches of the coral "trees" (which have been documented up to 15
meters high (= hundreds of years old, since they are slow-growing!!))
without cutting or fouling the gear. Fishermen have long known that
areas rich in corals are great places to fish, but only recently has
"modern technolog¥" made wholesale destruction of coral habitat
possible. The orange roughy fishery in New Zealand is a good case (not
to mention that the fish themselves are up to 100+ years old, and
reproduce slowly - it is a "one time" harvest!!). Now, it is being
regarded as highly probable that the rapid decline in many stocks of
ground-fish all over the world, may be due more to the destruction of
complex, productive habitat such as the corals - but so far precious
little in the way of serious protection has taken place, so the
Greenpeace victory in Britain is a promising step indeed!!!
In Eastern Canada, about 20 coral spp have been found, including 5 or 6
Alcyonacea (soft corals which don't grow very large), a dozen Gorgonids
(horny corals, which grow into large "trees", and sometimes form dense
stands over large areas, often on the slopes of canyons), and several
Scleractinids (stony corals - the kind that form reefs in shallow water
), including both Caryophyllina (including one Lohelia species) and
Dendrophyllina. They are not found on the shelf, but almost exclusively
below 200fthm, usually on stony outcrops on the side of canyons, and on
coarse gravel bottoms. They appear to be quite common in some areas,
but are highly threatened by the big, deep-sea trawling fleet, which
takes no measures at all to avoid them, and even forbids their fishermen
from talking about how much comes up in their gear. A few years ago, a
group of independant draggers began putting their heads together, and
realized that an important, perhaps even vital fish habitat was being
erradicated, and that this was possibly closely related to the collapse
of the Cod and other groundfish stocks in our region. They formed an
organiztion, obtained samples of many of the local spp, made models, and
put on wonderful displays all over the province to draw attention to
their discovery. Scientists paid little attention, and most of the work
to date has been done by ecological organizations, including the
organization of the upcoming Syposium on deep-water corals mentioned in
my previous message. A LOT of great science has been done in Norwegian
and Sweedish waters, and some in New Zealand and recently, off Florida
(yes, you sub-tropical guys have them too!!), and Britain. All we have
so far, however, is one very brief film of coral habitat in the Gulf of
Maine, and a bunch of samples from fishermen and some scientific
expeditions. However, an increasingly large percentage of the general
population is at least AWARE that we have corals, and that they are
highly endangered, so with the Syposium, the momentum should become
enough to put it on the "political map", and perhaps some will be
protected before it is all gone!!
Cheers,
Ross.
P.S.: Paul, i have a couple of copies remaining of a good report a
local NGO did on Nova Scotian corals - i'll send it off to you tomorrow.
--
Ross Mayhew: Schooner Specimen Shells:
Http://www.schnr-specimen-shells.com
"We Specialize in the Unusual"
Phone: (902) 876-2241; Fax: (603) 909-8552.
But try to find "something for Everyone"!!
Snail Mail: 349 Herring Cove Rd, P.O Box 20005, Halifax, N.S., Canada,
B3R 2K9.
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