Acting on a request from the Irish government, the European Commission has today adopted a proposal for measures to protect coral reefs. This will involve a ban on fishing with both active and passive gears in four areas off the Atlantic coast of Ireland which have been identified by scientists as hosting extensive cold water coral reefs. The areas concerned are the Belgica Mound, the Hovland Mound, and Northwest and Southwest Porcupine. Together, they cover a total area of around 2,500 km2. The Irish government has already put forward proposals to have all these areas included in the EU’s network of protected nature areas, the Natura 2000 network, established under the EU’s Habitats Directive. Since this procedure will take some time to establish permanent protection, however, the Irish government asked the Commission to act immediately to prevent further damage due to fishing in this area. The location of the coral reefs has been identified and mapped through a number of scientific research efforts, including by an ad hoc group of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). On the basis of the scientific evidence, the Commission considers that there is a good case for taking all necessary steps to prevent further damage to these ecosystems before permanent protection measures can be put in place. To this end, the Commission proposes provisional measures immediately prohibiting all fishing in those areas under the Common Fisheries Policy. The proposal has been made as part of a regulation proposing a series of mainly minor amendments to EU fisheries legislation.
