NY Aquarium Supports Coral Communities

By Barbara Russo

Brooklyn, N.Y. – Feb. 10, 2015- More than 120,000 people took a stand to protect a little known natural wonder right off the coast of New York, New Jersey, and the Mid Atlantic: Deep-sea corals found right off our coastlines, including in underwater canyons. These local corals are fragile, slow growing, and subject to severe damage by human activity.

As part of a broad coalition, supporters and visitors to WCS’s Central Park Zoo and New York Aquarium and many WCS members throughout the region submitted 13,000 letters, petitions, and drawings aski- ng the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (MAFMC) to consider protecting coral ecosystems in the Mid-Atlantic, including those that live in the Hudson Canyon, the East Coast’s largest submarine canyon located 100 miles off the coast of New York City. The petitioning took place during a special public comment period administered by the MAFMC.

“We are grateful for all the support we’ve garnered over the last month to protect local deep-sea corals,” said Jon Forrest Dohlin, WCS Vice President and Director of the New York Aquarium. “Coral communities provide shelter and food for many species, but they are very fragile and subject to severe damage from human use of the ocean. We urge the MAFMC to safeguard deep-sea corals by protecting discrete coral zones in all submarine canyons from all bottom-fishing gears, restricting the use of all bottom-fishing gear by establishing a broad coral zone below 200 meters and by requiring the use of electronic vessel monitoring systems aboard fishing vessels to ensure effective enforcement.”

Submarine canyons are coral hotspots and provide important habitat for diverse concentrations of marine life, including sperm whales, tunas, and sharks. The MAFMC is considering protecting 15 submarine canyons that can be found in the Mid Atlantic part of the East Coast.

Scientists are only beginning to learn about deep-sea coral ecosystems and their importance to the healthy functioning of oceans, as well as their many values to humans, including applications to biomedical research. One thing that is known is that they face threats from human activity, such as the use of bottom fishing gear that can break, damage, and disrupt coral communities. Further, given that they are slow growing, once the damage is done, it can take hundreds or thousands of years for the corals to grow back.
Petitions from WCS and partner organizations have been sent to the MAFMC for consideration. The council is expected to vote on protections on Feb. 11 at its next council meeting in Raleigh, N.C.

The New York Aquarium works to protect local waters through its NY Seascape Program. The program is designed to restore healthy populations of local marine species—many of them threatened—and protect New York marine waters and habitats, which are vital to wildlife and key to the area’s economic and cultural vitality.

This unique habitat will be featured in the aquarium’s future Ocean Wonders: Sharks! building at the Canyon’s Edge exhibit, which will educate visitors about coldwater canyons and local coral species. Ocean Wonders: Sharks! is scheduled to open in 2016.
For more information about this story or to speak to the experts involved, contact Barbara Russo at 718-265-3428 or brusso@wcs.org.