28/06/2005 – WWF welcomes
the annoucement by the Irish goverment to
protect the country’s cold-water coral reefs.
The announcement was made by Irish Marine
Minister Pat the Cope Gallagher as Parties
to the Convention for the Protection of the
Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic
(OSPAR) met at their annual meeting.
"This is an important step that will
serve to protect Ireland’s marine treasures
and will be of long-term benefit to the fishing
industry," said Stephan Lutter, Director
of WWF's North-East Atlantic Marine Ecoregion
Programme.
According to the minister, Ireland plans
to conserve the cold-water coral reefs by
nominating four sites in Irish waters as marine
protected areas, and by preventing harmful
fishing practice in three others in international
waters.
“This should be considered a win-win situation
for environmentalists and fishermen,"
added Lutter.
"Careful management of human activities
at these vulnerable deep-water habitats will
protect the marine food web and help ensure
the long-term survival of fish stocks in Irish
waters.”
Ireland’s cold-water coral reefs, situated
off its western coast, are home to a recorded
1,300 species of invertebrates and fish, including
the commercially important redfish. These
unique habitats – which take thousands of
years to form and have very poor recovery
rates once damaged – are similar to the coral
reefs found in warmer and shallower waters,
such as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
“In certain areas of the North-East Atlantic,
an estimated 30–50 per cent of coral habitats
have been smashed to smithereens and lost
in the past," said Lutter. "The
ongoing destruction must be halted.”
Norway and Sweden have already made bold
moves to close reefs in their waters to bottom
trawling. In the UK waters, the Darwin Mounds
north-west of Scotland were saved from fishing
impacts. However, other countries such as
France and Portugal have so far failed to
put such measures in place despite having
committed, in 2003, to take immediate steps
to protect the reefs, and to nominate marine
protected areas in their waters before the
end of 2005.
WWF fears that most countries will miss this
deadline.
END NOTES:
• The OSPAR Convention is the legal framework
to protect the marine environment of the North-East
Atlantic from land-based pollution and human
impacts at sea. There are 16 Contracting Parties
sharing the maritime and/or catchment area:
Belgium, Denmark, the EC, Finland, France,
Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In addition,
the maritime area includes international waters.
• The OSPAR Commission is the governing body
to adopt decisions, recommendations and/or
other agreements under the Convention on an
annual basis.
• WWF, along with other NGOs, has observer
status to OSPAR and its committees and working
groups.
