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Environment

Josep Maria Gili

Deputy Director of Barcelona's Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM)

When scientists arrive late

FEBRUARY 22ND, 2011

An example of 'Dendrophylia comigera'

The beginning of the 1950s saw a major step forward in our knowledge of the world’s oceans. Technological advances based primarily on the development of scuba diving and underwater exploration equipment allowed us to study the seabed. Nowadays, the oceans’ depths can be accurately sampled, and images can be recorded by deep sea probes equipped with cameras.

The use of these technologies has provided us with a very different view of the ocean and has shown us that its processes and ecosystems are interconnected. Events on the surface affect the sea’s great depths much more quickly than we previously thought, while phenomena that occur hundreds or thousands of meters deep are essential to understanding what happens on the surface.

Events on the surface affect the sea’s great depths much more quickly than we previously thoughtStudies of the forests of corals, sea fans, sponges and other organisms found on the continental shelves have demonstrated their ecological importance both as centers of biological diversity and for their ecological role as a nursery for many species, including species of commercial interest. In these forests, both adults and the young of many animals find shelter and food, a phenomenon that makes these areas rich in biological diversity.

Fishermen have always known this and have regarded the continental shelves as preferential areas to cast their nets. Initially, their nets broke on contact with coral, but the development of equipment that withstood the impact with reefs has made modern fishing nets excellent machines to clear cut forest of coral, and trawling has destroyed many of these banks.

The LIFE Program

For the past two years, we have been surveying different areas of the Mediterranean as part of the European Union program LIFE (Life-Indem). One of its main objectives is to decide which underwater areas to protect under the Natura 2000 network, which will include the Cabo de Creus, the Canal de Menorca and the Ebro-Columbretes Delta, among other places along the Catalan coast. It is an important step because while the Natura 2000 network already protects many terrestrial areas, marine ecosystems are, at present, without protection.

One of the most important discoveries of the project is the realization that continental shelves act as a link between coastal and deep ocean systems and that fishing activity has broken this connection with the destruction of coral forests.

The destruction of coral reefs has broken the connection between coastal and deep ocean systems It has proven necessary to study marine areas far from shore to realize how critical coastal waters are to the functioning of the oceans. We still have much to learn about the role played by the continental shelves’ damaged ecosystems, and yet we find there are fewer and fewer to study.

We scientists feel we have arrived too late. But the results of research in these areas, both on board research vessels and in laboratories, give us some hope. If we can stop the current exploitation of the oceans and switch to a sustainable fishing model soon, maybe we will be in time to recover these communities that inhabit the continental shelf.

Is it possible to go back?

There are still unstudied areas with high levels of marine biodiversity that can offer us surprises. This summer, in the Canal de Menorca, we found significant areas of black coral reefs accompanied by sea fans and sponges. It is one of the most well preserved seabeds we have seen in the waters of the Balearic Islands. Without a doubt, it is an exceptional case that reminds us how the Mediterranean seabed was just a few decades ago before industrial fishing methods, like trawling, laid so many to waste. (You can find more information on this discovery at Recerca en Acció).

There are ways to exploit marine resources that do not damage the seabed, an essential area for the marine ecosystem. Can we stop their destruction, yet still exploit marine resources? Can it be done in a sustainable way? We believe it is possible. One of the main objectives of our research is to show that you can enjoy and experience the sea without destroying it.

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