A little good news about coral reefs

If you read this site regularly, you probably heard about the report NOAA released on Monday concluding that half of the coral reef systems in the United States are in decline (news report from The Associated Press).This morning there's some good news.

Off the Brazilian coast, where the narrow continental shelf widens far out into the Atlantic Ocean, marine scientists have discovered reefs that they believe double the size of Brazil's largest and richest reef system, the Abrolhos Bank.

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"Due to their relative inaccessibility and depth, the newly discovered reefs are teeming with life, in some places harboring 30 times the density of marine life than the known, shallower reefs," says Guilherme Dutra, Conservation International's director of marine programs in Brazil.

"That's the good news," he said. "The bad news is that only a small percentage of marine habitats in the Abrolhos are protected, despite mounting localized and global threats." (news report from Environmental News Service).

Conservation International and other groups will ask the Brazilian government to extend protection to the newly discovered reefs. Here's hoping that they are successful.