Protecting Cabliers: Exceptional Mediterranean coral reefs PROPOSAL FOR A NEW FISHERIES RESTRICTED AREA IN THE ALBORAN SEA
Ecological significance of the Cabliers reef
June 2021
The Cabliers Coral Mound Province is located in the Southern Alboran Sea (GSA 3 and 4 – see Figure 1). It comprises several elongated ridge-like mounds mainly composed of cold-water corals (CWC). The seamount here, a volcanic outcrop that extends for 25 km with depths ranging from 250-710 m, currently hosts one of the densest and largest CWC reefs in the Mediterranean Sea and the only known growing CWC reefs in the entire Mediterranean basin. Figure 1. Location of Cabliers Coral Mound Province The area is an exceptional semi-pristine oasis in the deep sea according to scientific evidence which shows its coral richness, along with the fact that Cabliers is relatively undisturbed by human activity. Its reefs are mainly composed of the framework-building stony corals Desmophyllum pertusum (=Lophelia pertusa) and Madrepora oculata, together with other threatened species that include dense aggregations of deep-sea gorgonians, black corals, and glass sponges. Various commercial species are found in the reef system, including blackspot seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo), European conger (Conger conger), blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou), greater forkbeard (Phycis blennoides), red scorpionfish (Scorpaena scrofa), pink spiny lobster (Palinurus mauritanicus), and Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus). Observations of small-spotted catshark egg cases, cuttlefish eggs, juvenile blackbelly rosefish, and schools of blackspot seabream indicate the potential importance of the Cabliers reefs for species’ life cycles.
Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem protection in the GFCM The protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) has become a greater priority within the GFCM’s conservation work in recent years. In 2018, Protocols for the protection of VMEs in the GFCM area of application were adopted at the GFCM’s 42nd Annual Commission (Appendix 17), and in 2019 the GFCM adopted Resolution GFCM/43/2019/6 on the establishment of a set of measures to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems formed by cnidarian (coral) communities in the Mediterranean Sea. The unique characteristics of the Cabliers Coral Mound Province make it an obvious candidate for protection. According to the GFCM, seamounts are features known to potentially support VMEs; habitats such as CWC and glass sponge communities are VME indicator habitats; and black corals (Antipatharia) and stony corals (Scleractinia) are VME indicator taxa. All these VME indicators are present in Cabliers, many of them in exceptional conservation condition, and they should be protected from the impact of fisheries. The MedFish4Ever Declaration, signed in 2017 and reaffirmed in 2019, also committed to ensure adequate protection of vulnerable species and sensitive habitats and urged Mediterranean riparian states to cooperate to establish new fisheries restricted areas (FRAs). There are currently no GFCM FRAs in the Alboran Sea (GSA 1-4) and creating a FRA to protect the Cabliers reefs would address an important gap in VME and coral protection, while also potentially supporting key fisheries in this region.