I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4897
To protect deep sea corals and sponges, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 22, 2004
Mr. GREENWOOD (for himself, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. WELDON of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. FARR, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. 
GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. CASE, Mr. HONDA, Mr. DOGGETT, 
Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. WEXLER, 
Mr. ENGEL, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Ms. 
LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. KUCINICH, and Mr. GERLACH) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Re-
sources, and in addition to the Committee on Science, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To protect deep sea corals and sponges, and for other 
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Deep Sea Coral Protec-
tion Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Ecosystem-based management of our ma-
rine environment has been recommended by numer-
ous reports and advisory bodies, including the Pew 
Oceans Commission and the United States Commis-
sion on Ocean Policy. On the subject of corals, in-
cluding deep sea corals, both commission reports 
recommended both the continued study and protec-
tion of coral ecosystems. 
(2) Complex seafloor habitats created by struc-
ture-forming organisms including deep sea corals 
and sponges are essential to numerous fish species, 
including commercially and recreationally targeted 
species, which rely on such complex habitats for 
spawning, food, and shelter from predation. For ex-
ample, more than 1,300 species live among lophelia 
coral reefs in the Northeastern Atlantic Ocean. 
(3) Deep sea corals typically exhibit slow 
growth, extreme longevity, and highly patchy dis-
tribution predominately along continental margins, 
seamounts, undersea canyons, and ridges. 
(4) Living organisms, such as deep sea corals 
and sponges, that create complex habitat have not 
been adequately studied for the potential benefit to 
society or for the ecological importance that such or-
ganisms provide to fish species and other forms of 
marine life. 
(5) Some deep sea corals have a growth ring 
structure that provides a living record of changes in 
water temperature and other information that can 
be used to track global climate change over time. 
(6) Deep sea corals are a future source of new 
biomedical compounds for the pharmaceutical and 
biotechnical industries. 
(7) The exceptional diversity, uniqueness, and 
vulnerability of deep sea corals necessitates that the 
mapping and conservation of such species be given 
a high priority. 
(8) There is national and international recogni-
tion of the importance of deep sea coral habitats. 
The European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Can-
ada, and Norway have prohibited the use of fishing 
gear that employs mobile bottom-tending fishing 
gear in some areas where deep sea corals exist. Fur-
ther, several of the Councils have taken action to 
protect the fragile habitat of deep sea corals. 
(9) Deep sea coral habitats are subject to grow-
ing human pressures, particularly as a result of the 
rapid spread of deep sea mobile bottom-tending fish-
eries into new regions and new grounds, aided by
the development of navigational, fish-finding, and 
other technologies. 
(10) The National Research Council found that 
95 percent of the damage to deep sea corals is 
caused by bottom trawls. In the National Research 
Council 2002 report to the Congress on the effects 
of trawling and dredging on seafloor habitats, the 
National Research Council stated that we currently 
have enough information about the destruction of 
structured habitats caused by bottom trawling/
dredging and recommend for their immediate protec-
tion through the use of no bottom trawl/dredge 
zones. 
SEC. 3. POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States to employ pre-
ventative and precautionary strategies to protect deep sea 
corals and sponges, including the protection of such orga-
nisms as are found in the continental margins, canyons, 
seamounts, and ridges of the world’s oceans, and the habi-
tats of such organisms from damage from gear and equip-
ment used in commercial fishing, particularly mobile bot-
tom-tending gear. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: