LIVING IN THE DARK: EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF DEEP-SEA CORALS
Ever wonder what it’s like to spend two weeks on a NOAA research ship exploring deep-sea ecosystems? Watch our 4-minute video (above) that brings you right into the fast-paced action of deep-sea coral exploration!
Green Fire’s cameraman & editor, Ralf Meyer, joined the Southeast Deep Coral Initiative expedition aboard NOAA Ship Nancy Foster to capture the expedition on film. The expedition goals: To map new areas, survey and sample deep-sea coral ecosystems in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and provide new information about areas that are under consideration for protection. This work to discover, study, and collect data, particularly on the location of the most vulnerable deep-sea coral ecosystems, is critical so that managers can use this information when making decisions.
“We started 12 days ago with no samples, and now we have 50+. It’s hard work, we fought the currents, the wind, the waves. We ran north; we ran south, and we got it all done.”
Dr. Peter Entnoyer, Marine Ecologist
While deep-sea coral ecosystems are out of sight and out of mind to most, they are not immune to human impacts, as deep-sea trawling, oil and gas exploration, submarine cable laying and ocean acidification threaten these systems much more than their shallow-water counterparts. Deep-water corals are particularly vulnerable to such impacts, because they are typically slow growing and long lived (on the orders of centuries to millennia), and as a result require very long timescales to recover from disturbances.
What strikes us most about deep-sea ecosystems is how little we know about the largest ecosystem on this planet. A key outcome of this expedition was that they found more coral in more places than expected. “Collecting this type of information is what’s needed to develop conservation measures that will protect these ecosystems in perpetuity,” said Dr. Daniel Wagner, Expedition Coordinator. This important work off the Southeast U.S., a region including the U.S. federal waters of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Bight, continues through September 2019.
Curious to learn more? Watch our 5-minute video on deep-sea coral exploration off the east coast of the United States.
