Protect the Galicia Bank




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EEZ = Exclusive Economic Zone			Make the Galicia Bank a Marine Protected Area A feature story written by Jessica Lindström-Battle As the Prestige broke in two loaded with heavy fuel oil in November last year, its wreck – and 50,000 tonnes of oil – ended up on the slopes of the Galicia Bank, a seamount in Spanish offshore waters.
This seamount is one of the sites proposed by WWF for a network of marine protected areas in the North East Atlantic, envisaged to boost protection of a wide range of fragile and vulnerable species and habitats. The impressive Galicia Bank, off the coast and continental shelf of northwestern Spain, rises more than four kilometres (higher than most of the Alps) from the surrounding abyssal plain. Its rocky peak reaches 591 metres below the ocean surface and its shallower parts cover a surface more than six square kilometres large. It is mainly composed of petrified lava and ocean crust lifted from the abyssal plain through volcanic activity. Like underwater islands in the open ocean, seamounts such as the Galicia Bank host a wealth of marine life. This diversity stems from their large size and shape that force nutrient-rich water from the surrounding abyss up to the ocean surface. This upwelling water provides ample food for a rich community of fish and invertebrates that are substantially different from that of the surrounding ocean.		Skate Credit © Buerkel / Wildlife
Cold water coral Lophelia pertusa Credit © A. Freiwald / University of Erlangen	A survey of the Galicia Bank found that its shallow parts host a pristine coral community composed mainly of the fragile cold water corals Lophelia and Madrepora that live attached to ripples of hard bottom and feed by trapping organic particles and plankton. Especially Lophelia coral provide intricate structures where many fish and invertebrates find food and a place to hide.
Such riches make the waters at and around seamounts important feeding grounds for migrating turtles and whales and large predatory fish like swordfish and tuna, as well as for many deep-water fish. Studies at the Galicia Bank have revealed 86 bony fish species, including the highly sought after deep sea fish orange roughy, and 11 species of sharks, skates and rays. As the Galicia Bank lies close to the continental shelf, it may also act as a stepping stone for the spreading of oceanic and continental shelf species across the ocean basin – by bridging large distances of deep open ocean.	Orange Roughy Credit © WWF UK / Richard Wilson
Download WWF Briefing on the Galicia Bank as PDF file (English version) (Spanish version)	Prior to the Prestige disaster, there was already a case for action to protect the Galicia Bank. Due to its reef like caracter, it qualifies as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under the EU Habitats Directive. Also, WWF had proposed the Galicia Bank as a showcase offshore marine protected area (MPA), due to the lack of documented knowledge of human impacts on this important feature. Lack of knowledge can however not be an excuse for inaction. Therefore, all coastal states share the responsibility to apply the precautionary principle to marine resource use. This means that until we know more about the Galicia Bank and other deep sea treasures, we must set aims for their conservation and management that minimise the risk of damage to fauna and habitats.
The Galicia Bank showcase MPA is part of a list of more than 20 important sites put forward by WWF to the OSPAR Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic, in order to accelerate the designation of offshore MPAs in the North East Atlantic.This showcase list demonstrates the extraordinary diversity of offshore features and habitats in the North East Atlantic, which must be considered when establishing a network of marine protected areas in the region. In June this year, Environment Ministers from OSPAR countries, including Spain, committed to select and nominate, by 2006, the sites to be protected and to develop a truly ecologically coherent network of well-managed MPAs by 2010. Its establishment would be a key contribution to the global system of MPA networks endorsed by the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. The Prestige disaster put the world’s attention on the perils of transporting oil and other hazardous loads at sea. It also made it abundantly clear that we urgently need adequate measures to protect important marine features from such fatal impacts. In addition to establishing MPAs for their protection, WWF would like to see oil tankers and other ships carrying hazardous substances to be banned from entering the vicinity of the Galicia Bank and other fragile ecosystems. Additional web resources: WWF project on MPAs in the North-East Atlantic WWF map of Seamounts and similar features in the North-East Atlantic WWF partners in the project OceAnic Seamounts - An Integrated Study (OASIS) WWF Offshore Directory: seamounts - cold water coral reefs - deep sea fish WWF press release Ignorance no excuse for unregulated exploitation of seamounts WWF feature story On the ground of the North-East Atlantic WWF Briefings on other seamounts of the North-East Atlantic: Banco Gorringe (Portugal) - Josefine Bank (High Seas)