In 2000, deep sea corals and sponges were discovered living on the sea floor off B.C.'s coast. Since then, researchers have learned that the sponge reefs are over 9,000 years old. When glass sponges were first discovered off the B.C. coast in the 1980s, scientists estimated that half had already been wiped out by bottom trawling (Dr. Salley Leys, sponge biologist, University of Alberta).
While four trawl closures have been implemented in B.C.’s globally unique Hexactinellid sponge reefs, the closures have proven to be too small, and do not take into consideration our equally important coral forests. Since 1996, 339 tonnes of corals and sponges have been recorded as bycatch in the B.C. bottom trawl fleet."Deep-sea corals and sponges are crucial habitat elements for seafloor species. Allowing trawling in coral forests is the worst thing we are doing in the ocean today. It should be stopped immediately until scientists can determine whether trawling in the deep-sea can be justified anywhere."
Dr. Daniel Pauly, Director,
