Sunken treasure: Protection sought for S.C.'s deep water reefs

A quarter of a mile under the sea, rows of 500-foot tall coral reef pinnacles form a forest for deep water fish, shrimp, crabs and other marine species many scientists didn't know existed until a decade ago.

The unique ecosystem is about 50 miles off the South Carolina coast and stretches 25,000 square miles from North Carolina to Florida. It extends more than a mile deep and could be one of the largest deep water coral reef systems in the world, said Doug Rader, chief ocean scientist with the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund.

At the request of the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, Gov. Mark Sanford has asked President Bush to declare the reef system a national marine monument, a declaration that would protect it from oil exploration, dredging, and other bottom damaging activities, including fishing with certain equipment that could harm the corals.

Sanford sent Bush a letter requesting the designation May 21 and has not yet received a response. A call to a White House spokesperson was not returned Friday.

Conservationists, marine scientists and oceanographers, however, are hopeful Bush will extend the same protection to the southeastern U.S. coastal reefs he did for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in 2006.

"It's right here in our backyard and virtually nobody knows about it except for a handful of researchers and fishery managers that are now trying to protect these sites," Rader said.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the S.C. Department of Natural Resources are also working to develop partial protection for the reefs, said fishery scientist Myra Brouwer. The rules would require those fishing near the reefs to install equipment on their boats that allows the government to track their vessels.

A UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT

Deep water sea life is incredible, Rader said, and yields new species with every dive, including black rose fish, barrel fish and red sea brim.

Steve Ross, a researcher at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, began diving the reefs in 2000 and has published much of the known research about the system. He discovered new species of fish and has seen some -- previously thought to be rare -- that are common among the deep water reefs.

About 100 miles from the reefs, Blake Ridge, another ecosystem, exists on the ocean floor. Protection for this system is also being sought.

Giant mussels, some as large as a foot-and-a-half long, shrimp, clams and primitive fish survive here on the methane that bubbles up from the sea floor, said Cindy Lee Van Dover, the director of Duke University's marine lab and a certified Alvin submarine pilot. The sub can reach depths of 14,000 feet.

Van Dover has visited Blake Ridge -- a place known as a "chemosynthetic community" where marine life uses toxic substances for energy, similar to the way plants use sunlight for energy in photosynthesis.

"These animals are part of our environment and we know very little about them and we constantly discover new species," she said. "It is a separate habitat (from the reefs) area that is very distinctive and special. These animals adapt to an extreme environment where corals would never survive."

While the methane habitats are not threatened yet, Van Dover said it's important to protect them because scientists still are learning about the deep sea. She has a proposal before Duke University that would fund another expedition to the site to study where the larvae of these marine creatures grow. The same animals are found on the ocean floor around Barbados and Africa, she said.

'AN AMAZING RESOURCE'

Ross is planning another two-month expedition, beginning in October, to the deep water coral reefs in the Gulf of Mexico to map the Atlantic reef systems. He will bring monitoring equipment, similar to lunar landers, that will measure water currents, salinity, temperature and record underwater life with a video camera. He plans to leave the equipment on the ocean floor for a year and then collect the data.

Submersible expeditions cost about $30,000 a day and usually last about two weeks, he said.

If the coastal reefs are designated part of the monument, scientists might be eligible for additional federal funding to continue deep water research.

Ross said research is just as important as protecting the reef.

"Usually we don't get around to protecting something until it's too late," he said. "In our area, there is very small damage (now). But ... there is a concern with a lot of exploitation activities -- fishing or energy exploration -- everything is moving toward deep water. This is an amazing resource and we should protect it."