The European Commission has been warned that cold-water coral reefs off the Irish coastline will be irrevocably damaged if they are not accurately mapped and protected.
The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) said in a new report to the Commission that research had shown that the coral was being seriously damaged by fishing trawls, which can break up the reef structure, damage the sensitive coral polyps and swamp the reef with sediment.
ICES is the main adviser to the Commission on fisheries and environmental issues in the north-east Atlantic, and its report on coral comes almost a year after a Franco-Irish expedition yielded comprehensive new information on carbonate mounds and cold-water coral formed over thousands of years off the Irish west coast.
The survey team, of Dr Anthony Grehan of the Irish Coral Task Force and NUI Galway, used advanced offshore technology to collect images and data on the Porcupine SeaBight and Rockall Trough.
No evidence of damage to reefs was reported during this survey, which revealed startling images of what scientists described as an "underwater wonder world of coral gardens teeming with life". However, a task-force meeting in Galway earlier this summer agreed that special areas of conservation (SACs) involving coral reef should be designated by Dúchas outside the 12-mile limit.
Lophelia pertusa, the most common cold-water coral species, is formed by a colony of organisms known as polyps that produce a hard carbonate skeleton. It is normally found at sea depths of between 200 and 1,000 metres and grows at a rate of about a millimetre a year. Reef structures take centuries to form, and the 35m- high Sula Ridge off the Norwegian coast is believed to be about 8,500 years old.
ICES believes that the areas must now be mapped with a view to introducing closed areas for commercial fishing, and its general secretary, Mr David Griffith, describes towing a heavy trawl net through a reef as similar to "driving a bulldozer through a nature reserve".
Mr Griffith, formerly of the Marine Institute here, said that ICES was aware that most fishing skippers preferred to avoid coral as it damaged gear. ICES has also advised the European Commission that the current scheme for recording by catches should be extended to include Lophelia.
Mr Jason Whooley of the Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation (IS&WFO) said that fishermen would support a mapping programme if it was accurate. "Fishermen don't target these areas because of damage to gear, but if there is a problem we'd be happy to discuss it," he said.
"However, we would not be happy with a blanket ban not supported by scientific information. We have always supported closed areas as an alternative to draconian measures like the 'days at sea' restriction which the EU Commission wants to introduce as part of general policy," he added.