Northeast Newfoundland Slope
Location: Offshore Atlantic Marine
Date of Designation: 2017
Conservation Objectives
To protect cold-water corals and sponges in the area, which provide habitats for many other species.
Prohibitions
All bottom-contact fishing activities are prohibited.
Why (environmental context for protection)
The area contains a high concentration of cold-water corals and sponges, which are fragile and slow to recover. These organisms play an important role for numerous other forms of marine life, as spawning and breeding grounds and as refuges from predators. Cold-water corals can also alter bottom currents and provide niche spaces for other organisms. The area of the closure overlaps with 32 per cent of the Orphan Spur, an Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area that supports high diversity, including several depleted species of fish such as the roundnose grenadier.