http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/12/30/a1a_NEW_CORAL_1231.html
By KIMBERLY MILLER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
The discovery of three deep-sea coral reefs this month by Florida Atlantic University scientists could lead to new protections for delicate ocean habitats off Florida’s east coast.
The never-before identified reefs of Lophelia coral were found during a seven-day expedition that included researchers from the Waitt Institute for Discovery in La Jolla, Calif., and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Mass.
Steve Ross/University of North Carolina Wilmington
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Florida Atlantic scientists and other researchers recently discovered three deep-sea Lophelia coral reefs like this one off Florida’s east coast.
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Scientists set out on the mission to test two new autonomous underwater vehicles, one of which can dive as deep as 6,000 meters, or about 19,700 feet, and survey large areas of the ocean bottom.
More than 300 deep-water coral reefs have been discovered during the past 10 years from off Jacksonville’s coast down to South Florida.
But the three reefs discovered during the recent trip, dubbed “Catalyst One,” were a surprise to researchers.
“Over the past 30 years of work out here we never had a good map of the bottom,” said John Reed, a professor and scientist with Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at FAU, in an online journal about the trip. “Our seven-day mission resulted in some spectacular data.”
Reed has studied the deep coral reefs off Florida’s east coast for decades and has discovered reefs in water 1,000 to 3,000 feet deep.
The new reefs were found 35 miles off the coast between Cape Canaveral and Fort Pierce at a depth of about 450 meters, or about 1,500 feet.
Nascent technology on the underwater vehicles facilitated the find. Developed by Woods Hole, the vehicles can get closer to the ocean floor, are faster than previous vehicles and use two kinds of sonar and a special camera to map areas by following a pre-programmed track.
“It’s not tethered to the surface and is more efficient,” said Greg Packard, senior engineering technician for Woods Hole. “This was in essence the first high resolution mapping of the area.”
Because Lophelia coral, which is white and tree-like, grows in water as deep as 10,000 feet, it’s harder to access and less studied than shallow-water coral.
But scientists do know that Lophelia coral relies on strong currents to supply it with plankton for food, and grows slower than coral that has access to sunlight.
Reed is concerned about protecting fragile Lophelia reefs from bottom-trawling fishing and the possibility of offshore drilling.
He intends to submit the three new reefs to the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council in the hope of having them designated a protected area.
Next year, the council will consider a large region off the coasts of North Carolina and Florida for status as a Habitat Area of Particular Concern for deep-water coral reefs. Reed’s research on deep-water reefs was the basis for the proposal.
The special status would not put restrictions on the area, but would identify it for conservation efforts as sensitive to human-induced damage and put it on the map as an environmentally sensitive area.
The discovery of the new reefs, which falls within the area being considered, could bolster the argument for awarding it the designation, according to information about the expedition on Harbor Branch’s Web site.
“Rarely do scientific expeditions produce solid results this quickly,” said Harbor Branch Executive Director Shirley Pomponi. “This is a big win for the resource managers tasked with protecting these reefs.”