U.S. scientists warn of threat to deep-water reefs

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: Reuters

MIAMI, Oct 16 (Reuters) - U.S. scientists are warning of an environmental threat to deep-water coral reefs after finding they may be just as vulnerable to pollution as their shallow-water counterparts.

For the past three decades, scientists at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have observed an alarming decrease in live coral cover on shallow reefs in the Caribbean.

The shallow beds of biologically rich coral are often close to land and were thought to be more susceptible to degradation caused by sewage and other human-related pollutants than deeper, more remote offshore reefs.

In a report published in this month's issue of Continental Shelf Research, however, a team of NOAA scientists said they had documented, for the first time, a pattern of coral loss on a deep-water U.S. Caribbean reef.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N16452387.htm

[Barrett808]

1. The bottom trawling doesn't help... n/t