Oceana, the world’s largest ocean conservation organization, applauded the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) today for approving a plan to protect more than 23,000 square miles of known deep sea coral from North Carolina to Florida from destructive fishing gear. The plan, proposed by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council in September 2009, will ban the use of bottom-damaging fishing gear in the largest known area of healthy deep sea coral ecosystems in the world, helping to ensure the productivity of commercial fisheries that depend on them.
“An entire ocean ecosystem was lent a helping hand today,” said Dave Allison, senior campaign director at Oceana. “Bottom trawling consumes more fuel than most other kinds of fishing and is capable of destroying these ancient coral reefs in a single pass.”
As the oil spill continues in the Gulf of Mexico, Oceana is urging the Obama administration to follow-through on protection of these vulnerable deep sea ecosystems by banning new offshore drilling immediately and permanently. Today’s actions are a brilliant example of the kind of leadership we need to protect deep sea corals along the southeast coast of the United States, at the same time as the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil spill brings light to another extremely dangerous threat – oil.
Read the complete story at Oceana.