. Cold-water Coral Reefs: out of sight - no longer out of mind. UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series 22. 4. Threats Cold-water coral reefs Since about the mid-1980s, the deeper parts of the world's oceans have come increasingly under pressure from human activities to exploit their biological and mineral resources. In the 1990s the exploration of deep- water ecosystems with sophisticated camera systems showed damage and habitat losses in most oceans of the world. This raised concern among academla as demonstrated by the call for action from more than 1 000 scientists and 69 countries at the annual mee
. Cold-water Coral Reefs: out of sight - no longer out of mind. UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series 22. 4. Threats Cold-water coral reefs Since about the mid-1980s, the deeper parts of the world's oceans have come increasingly under pressure from human activities to exploit their biological and mineral resources. In the 1990s the exploration of deep- water ecosystems with sophisticated camera systems showed damage and habitat losses in most oceans of the world. This raised concern among academla as demonstrated by the call for action from more than 1 000 scientists and 69 countries at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science In Seattle. United States, in February 2004. Documented and potential sources of threats to cold- water corals are: ? commercial bottom trawling and other bottom fishing ? hydrocarbon exploration and production ? cable and pipeline placement ? bioprospecting and destructive scientific sampling ? other pollution ? waste disposal and dumping ? coral exploitation and trade ? upcoming threats: sequestration of CO2. other mineral exploration and increased atmospheric CO2. COMMERCIAL BOTTOM TRAWLING AND OTHER BOTTOM FISHING There is growing concern among scientists, fisheries managers and the fishing industry about the wider effects of fishing on marine ecosystems (Turner et 19991. Open-access policies and subsidy-driven over- capitalization have helped put marine fisheries in a global crisis (Pauly et 1998; Pauly et 2003). The collapse of fish stocks and subsequently fisheries is generally attributed to overfishing, but other effects on the ecosystem have become more apparent recently. One such effect Is unintentional or incidental damage to marine organisms (including bycatchi or sea-floor habitats by bottom-fishing activities (Morgan and Chuenpagdee. 20031. The ambivalent relationship be- tween coral occurrences and fishery interests is not a new phenomenon. In 1915 the French biologist Joubin published
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