Ancient, deep-sea coral reefs off the southeastern coast from North Carolina to Florida should be protected, a federal fisheries board says.
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, meeting this week in Wilmington, scheduled public hearings on designating the pristine reefs as “habitat areas of particular concern.” The 23,000-square-mile area is believed to be world's largest contiguous deep-water coral ecosystem.
Fishing for deep-water shrimp and golden crabs would be allowed within some of the protected areas.
Public hearings will be held in Charleston, S.C., on Jan. 26, in New Bern on Jan. 27 and in Georgia and Florida in early February. The council is expected to give final approval to the designation at its March meeting in Jekyll Island, Ga.
Found in dark, cold waters 1,200 feet or more deep, the fragile coral mounds have been explored only in the past decade. Fishing trawlers have damaged similar reefs around the world.
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