Scientists have documented century-old corals and fragile deep-sea life on a previously unexamined seamount in the South Pacific. This newly documented site reclassifies the region as a protected ecosystem and raises immediate stakes for whether industrial fishing can return. Footage from a deep seamount revealed dense clusters of corals, sponges, and other organisms rising from the seafloor. Analyzing that imagery, Greenpeace Aotearoa campaigner Ellie Hooper and her team documented evidence that meets the threshold for formal protection.
Original Article: Century-old corals in South Pacific threatened by bottom trawling
