WHY THE FUTURE OF THE OCEAN IS AT RISK

The bamboo coral, Isidella species novum, has a jointed skeleton of dense calcite, or bone, very similar to the human spine.

 Throughout human history the deep ocean has often inspired wonder and fear. It is the home of legendary leviathans of the deep which struck fear in the hearts of ancient mariners and the source of the so-called "primordial ooze", at one time believed to be the origin of life itself.

"We know that seamounts support large pools of undiscovered species, but we cannot yet predict what is on the unstudied ones. The tragedy is that we may never know how many species become extinct before they are even identified"- Dr. Frederick Grassle, Rutgers University 

PHOTO courtesy of
the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition

The most destructive method of deep-sea fishing is 'bottom trawling' which drags heavy steel plates, cables and nets across the ocean floor destroying cold water corals, sponges, sea-pens, xenophyophores and many other species that form the basic structure of deep-sea ecosystems. The scale of the threat to the marine biodiversity of the deep-sea as result of bottom trawling as well as other methods of deep-sea fishing is yet unknown, but potentially comparable to the threat to terrestrial biodiversity associated with the loss of tropical rainforest's. Many thousands of species may be at risk, most of which are still unknown to science. source - DSCC





Not only are deep-sea fisheries for the most part unsustainable, but the economics of deep-sea fisheries are questionable given the low productivity of deep-sea fish stocks. According to a report published in 2009 by the UN FAO, some 285 vessels flagged to 27 countries were estimated to be engaged in high seas bottom fisheries in 2006 (many only fishing part-time on the high seas). Of this number, 80% were flagged to ten counties: Spain, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russian Federation, Australia, Japan, France, Portugal, Belize and Estonia. Over one-third were flagged to European Union countries and the EU fleet took half or more of the high seas bottom catch. The majority of the vessels engage in high seas bottom trawling

A black scabbard, lying on the deck of the EU bottom trawler, Ivan Nores, 17 October, 2004.

 Take 5 minutes, and view this, friend.