Deep-sea expedition documents damage to cold-water corals from bottom trawling in the Southwest Indian Ocean

Date: December 9, 2011

Source: BBC

A team of scientists has set out on a six-week mission, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, to explore the Indian Ocean’s underwater mountains, or seamounts.

The scientists aboard the research vessel, the RRS James Cook, will study life thousands of metres below the surface.

In the fourth of her BBC Nature diary entries, Aurelie Spadone from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, who is part of the team, witnesses the exploitation of the seamounts she is exploring.

We are now in the 5th week of this expedition.

 

Continue reading: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/16076387

 

Posted on Categories Fisheries ScienceTags