Trawlers ripping up British coral

Official appeals to the public to eat unfamiliar deep-sea fish to save cod from vanishing from waters round Britain are threatening one of the nation's most precious coral field, 120 miles off Scotland.

In a consequence unforeseen by conservationists fighting to preserve fish stocks, it has emerged that French, Spanish and Irish trawlers in search of deep-sea species in the north Atlantic are devastating the coral beds known as the Darwin Mounds.

The vessels' vast nets are dragged along the seabed in the hunt for fish such as round-nosed grenadier (hoki) and orange roughy. As the fish are caught, the sandy mounds and forests of coral that provide their habitat are destroyed. The coral, which has grown for thousands of years, is home to dozens of marine animals.

Ministers are examining ways of banning trawlers from the 40-square-mile area of the coral fields, more than half a mile below the surface.

Elliot Morley, the Fisheries minister, hopes to use new powers that came into force under the Common Fisheries Policy on 1 January to impose an emergency "no fishing" zone in the area in the next few weeks.

The area will gain permanent defence under European habitat protection regulations later this year – making it one of the first deep-sea conservation areas in Europe.

The measure may infuriate Britain's EU partners, but Mr Morley is under intense pressure from the Government's own conservation experts and green groups to take emergency action.

Several weeks ago the European Commission rejected his appeal for a temporary ban on fishing there.