

The Terrifying Impact of Deep Sea Bottom Trawling - nmc
http://www.penelope-jolicoeur.com/2013/11/take-5-minutes-and-sign-this.html

======
skue
This page lost me when it claimed that most coral exists in the deep sea
kilometers below the surface. Anyone who scuba dives recognizes that coral
prefers warm water and filtered sunlight and is rarely found more than 30
meters below the surface.[1]

There are a lot of reasons to oppose deep sea bottom trawling, but this
infographic based on naive and erroneous assumptions may do more harm than
good.

[1]
[http://www.coral.org/resources/about_coral_reefs/coral_overv...](http://www.coral.org/resources/about_coral_reefs/coral_overview#where)

~~~
nmc
Thank you for sharing this scuba diving experience. However, please run a
broader research before crying wolf.

There _is_ such a thing as "deep sea coral". The third paragraph on the
corresponding Wikipedia article [1] states that "cold-water genus Lophelia
surviv[es] as deep as 3,000 metres (9,800 ft)". You can check out the _Deep
Sea Corals Collected by the Lamont Geological Observatory_ [2] for more
scientific information.

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral)
[2]
[http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/handle/2246/2502](http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/handle/2246/2502)

~~~
skue
I said that coral _rarely_ exists below 30 meters - and that was in contrast
to the OP who said that "most corals live in the deep sea." As for research,
beyond the scuba mention I also provided a citation from a reputable
organization whose mission is to preserve coral. But in any case you're
missing the main point: that the OP is conflating the diverse fauna found
around warm-water tropical reefs with sea life found in in colder waters.

As I said, there are plenty of reasons to oppose deep sea trawling and I hope
the ban is successful. But an infographic that implies that there are colorful
Finding-Nemo-esque reefs a kilometer down with "roads, hospitals,
kindergartens, dorms" doesn't help. It just makes supporters of the ban look
naive.

------
J_Darnley
I quote this from one of those images there: "Water makes up 98% of the
Earth's volume." A quick estimate on my part, while making some large
assumptions (a uniform layer of 11km lying on top of a perfect sphere of
radius 6356.8km), says it is 0.5% water by volume. I don't know what else you
are trying to sell but I lost all interest at that point.

------
mathattack
Deep sea trawling is bad, because it's part of a wave of depopulating our
oceans. (This is compounded increased acidity from CO2, plastic pollution and
other things)

Spinning a story that's strong on cute graphics but light on true facts
doesn't help.

