Untrawled L. pertusa interspersed with Mycale sponges standing erect to form a prominent reef at 200 m, Nordleksa, West Norway, May 1999. Lower edge of photograph ca. 2.5 m. Untrawled L. pertusa interspersed with Mycale sponges standing erect to form a prominent reef at 200 m, Nordleksa, West Norway, May 1999. Lower edge of photograph ca. 2.5 m. Trawled L. pertusa grounds at a depth of 200 m in the Iverryggen area, West Norway, May 1999. Smashed coral fragments litter the sediment around a clear trench from towed fishing gear (arrow). Lower edge of photograph ca. 1.5 m. Trawled L. pertusa grounds at a depth of 200 m in the Iverryggen area, West Norway, May 1999. Smashed coral fragments litter the sediment around a clear trench from towed fishing gear (arrow). Lower edge of photograph ca. 1.5 m.

This contribution documents widespread trawling damage to cold-water coral reefs at 840–1300 m depth along the West Ireland continental shelf break and at 200 m off West Norway. These reefs are spectacular but poorly known. By-catches from commercial trawls for deep-water fish off West Ireland included large pieces (up to 1 m2) of coral that had been broken from reefs and a diverse array of coral-associated benthos. Five azooxanthellate scleractinarian corals were identified in these by-catches, viz. Desmophyllum cristagalli, Enallopsammia rostrata, Lophelia pertusa, Madrepora oculata, and Solenosmilia variabilis. Dating of carbonate skeletons using 14C accelerator mass spectrometry showed that the trawled coral matrix was at least 4550 years old. Surveys by remotely operated vehicles in Norway showed extensive fishing damage to L. pertusa reefs. The urgent need for deep-water coral conservation measures is discussed in a Northeast Atlantic context.

Jason Hall-Spencer, Valerie Allain and Jan Helge Fossa, Trawling damage to Northeast Atlantic ancient coral reefs, Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 2002 269, 507-511 doi: 10.1098/rspb.2001.1910