The deep ocean also inhabits areas that tend to be currently geologically inactive but biologically very active, namely seamounts.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

Destructive fishing methods have been used on the rich fauna of seamounts for several years now, including bottom trawling.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

Central to the case against bottom-fishing is the protection of underwater mountains, known as seamounts, which are especially rich in marine life of all kinds.

ECONOMIST: Marine conservation

Seamounts are home to a particularly high number of endemic species.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

Orange roughys are found on, or around, mineral-rich seamounts that often form coral and act as feeding and spawning hubs for a variety of marine life.

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The process of fencing off seamounts is still at an early stage, though four clusters of them have been discovered and declared off-limits in the north-eastern Atlantic.

ECONOMIST: Marine conservation

If exploitation has only just begun of life forms found in hydrothermal vents, cold seeps and similar deep-sea formations like mud volcanoes and brine pools, the same cannot be said for seamounts.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES