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Current conservation status Norway > UK > Ireland > Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands > Canada > USA > Australia > New Zealand
The only Lophelia pertusa reef in Canadian waters is found in an area known to fishermen as the Stone Fence. Substantial fishing related damage has occurred here, leading to the DFO closing a 15 km² area around the reef to fishing activities since 2003. In May 2004, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) designated a deep-water canyon as a Marine Protected Area (MPA). The Gully is 80 kilometres long and 50 km wide and holds the highest known diversity of octocoral in Atlantic Canada, with 21 species identified to date. Designated as an MPA all activity within the Gully is tightly controlled, with measures that prohibit the disturbance, damage, destruction ore removal of any living marine organism or habitat within the Gully. |
The deeper waters off the coast of Canada support numerous cold-water coral species, to date, at least 27 species of coral has been identified from five taxonomic groups (soft corals, horny corals, stony corals, black corals and sea pens). The highest coral density is found along the edge of the continental shelf at depths of 183-293 metres and in deeper canyons and channels at depths of 914-1097 m.