WELLINGTON, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Changing the way of management of New Zealand's oceans could save its biodiverse-rich, critically endangered deep-water coral, said a study published on Tuesday.
New Zealand is a biodiversity hotspot for deepwater coral as about one-sixth of the known deep-water coral species of the world have been recorded in the country's waters, said the study published in the Journal of Environmental Management.
Deep-water corals are under threat due to ocean warming and acidification due to climate change, as well as from the physical impacts of bottom trawling, it said, adding deep-water corals are ecologically important because they provide critical benthic structure for other species.
Fish live inside their reefs and some of these reefs can extend large distances, covering hundreds of square kilometers, the study said, adding these reefs are also significant sites of carbon and nitrogen mineralization.
The findings show that bottom trawling impacts all coral taxa, particularly reef-forming corals, according to lead researcher Fabrice Stephenson from the University of Waikato.
Habitats will also decline in the future due to a changing climate, Stephenson said, adding spatial marine protection is unlikely to provide enough conservation for deep-water corals in the future, due to shifts associated with climate change and fishing.
The research identifies new areas for spatial marine protection that can provide protection for corals against a changing climate while still giving refuge to current populations, Stephenson said.
It takes decades, if not centuries, for some species of deep-water coral to recover, he added.
The study was jointly conducted by the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge, the University of Waikato, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, the Victoria University of Wellington, and the Department of Conservation. ■
