Trawlers scraping the ocean bottom with nets, heavy chains, and steel plates threaten thousands of deep sea species for questionable economic return, environmental groups said this week.
Slow-growing, long-lived corals; sponges; and fish living in habitats supporting anything between 500,000 and 100 million species are particularly vulnerable.
The economic value of such deep sea fisheries was unlikely to exceed $300 million to $400 million annually versus an annual marine fish catch worth $75 billion.
Protecting deep seas environments from sea bed trawling would not have a widespread economic impact nor significantly affect fish supplies, prices, or food security.
The fisheries concerned are those below 400 m (1,300 feet) down to 2,000 m (6,500 ft), dotted across the northern Atlanic, the southwest Indian Ocean, and southwest Pacific.
Fleets of 250 to 300 vessels come from Spain, Ireland, France, Japan, Russia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Quick impression here: looks like an oyster (because of the contours of the silhouette), a cave-like opening that attracts living things for food. Alluring form, gorgeously warm color with a black background (in deep water?), superb composition. You are over my head matey.. Gab
it's a bit frightening, mysterious... but beautiful in that mystery-- will it bring danger, or wonder? It's seductive in its bright darkness-- chases me away while it draws me near.
I'm not sure of what I thought of when I looked at it, and read the about without a clear idea. So my thoughts are influenced. It looks like a shell or coral or a creature of some sort with two eyes.
Quire a powerful feeling of being drawn in, helpless against the string but deceptively harmless looking mouth, I pursed mouth - but no 'apparent' teeth Margaret
At first glance the image projects an object in transit...o:) pulsating with life. But the more I look at it, what I see is a mouth sucking in all life leaving everything around lifeless...A metaphor for the fishing industry...Well I tried. Andree
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{K:17476} 5/10/2005