Deep-sea trawling is devastating corals and pristine marine habitats that have gone untouched since the last ice age, a leading marine biologist has warned.
A survey of the world's reefs and seamounts – giant submerged mountains that rise more than a kilometre above the seabed – has revealed widespread damage to the ecosystems, many of which are home to species unknown to science, said Jason Hall-Spencer at Plymouth University in the UK.
Hall-Spencer, a researcher involved with the Census of Marine Life, a worldwide project to catalogue life in the oceans, called for the establishment of an international network of marine reserves where deep-sea trawling was banned.
Deep-sea trawlers use giant, heavy-duty nets that are dragged over the seafloor at depths of more than a kilometre. The nets are fitted with rubber rollers called "rock hoppers", which destroy the corals that provide habitats for fish and other marine organisms.
The technique was developed for use in shallow waters with smooth sea floors, but as fish stocks dwindled and technology improved, fishingfleets began using the nets in much deeper waters.
Hall-Spencer said marine biologists have surveyed fewer than 1% of an estimated 50,000 seamounts in the world's oceans.
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