GRAND BANKS - Ancient cold-water corals, never seen before by humans, are being unveiled this week by researchers following a journey to Newfoundland’s Grand Banks.
Oceana Canada and its biologists will be showing their finds at an event in Ottawa on Tuesday night, ahead of World Ocean’s Day on Saturday.
Their research from a trip last October revealed dozens of corals on what they call the Southern Newfoundland Slope — an area just south of the Grand Banks, and adjacent to a Fisheries and Oceans Canada-enforced Coral Conservation Arena.
The find includes a one-square metre Bubblegum coral, estimated to be 100 years old, along with mushroom corals and other deep-sea creatures.
“Because they grow so slowly, they actually hold a record of geological history in their tissues,” said Isabelle Jubinville, one of the marine scientists who boarded the Polar Prince in St. John’s for the trip.
“You can analyze the tissues of corals and see the changes in the marine environment over time.”
The trip comprised of researchers from Oceana Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The group used a drop camera to study the ocean floor at the destination, at some points 1300 metres underneath the surface of the water.
“It’s like watching a different movie every time the video and the camera come up,” Jubinville said. “It’s pitch black going through the water column for the longest time, and then all of a sudden this vibrant and textured landscape comes into view.”
Researchers say it’s no surprise that this area contained cold-water corals, but this expedition was a “fact-finding” mission designed to understand the scale and size of the habitats, said Oceana Canada’s Jack Daly.
“They give us an answer as to why the waters off Newfoundland and Labrador are so rich, why we have such a long history of commercial fishing,” Daly said. “These enduring features that really are the baseline for healthy, productive habitats.”
The research adds to growing scholarship on cold-water coral ecosystems in Newfoundland, following a discovery by teams at the Marine Institute near Funk Island Deep in 2024.
Daly said much of Oceana Canada’s research is yet to come, including a review of the hours of video captured aboard the Polar Prince. That review, according to Jubinville, will be aided by specialized artificial intelligence detection software.
Oceana Canada is not, the two researchers say, immediately calling for regulatory changes or increased marine protection in this coral area. But the group is bringing their research to Ottawa at an event that will include the federal government’s Secretary of State for Nature, Nathalie Provost.
“These really far offshore ocean habitats are out of sight and out of mind,” Jubinville explained. “Not only for people who live on the coast, but people who are living inland as well.”
“What we’re really trying to do is bring these habitats… to the forefront and show why they are so valuable.”
