On Nov. 5, the British high court ruled that the Brits must take steps
to protect vulnerable marine habitats out to the 200 mile limit,
expecially from petrocarbon exploration, which is especially damaging to
corals.  I Put the whole thing on a page at
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Andes/2422/BritishCorals.html, for
the Ecologists on the list!!  On the home front for me, there is a
growing recognition of the importance of coral habitats in Eastern
Canada and the NE states, and next spring, we are holding the first ever
Worldwide Syposium on deep-water corals - almost every major researcher
in the field is planning to present a paper, so things are really
looking up :-)!!
Cheers,
Ross.