This hidden canyon in the Mediterranean teems with whales and dolphins. But it’s under threat

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🗞️ Driving the news: Deep beneath the waters off Sardinia, Italy, the Caprera Canyon — one of the Mediterranean’s most biodiverse underwater ecosystems — is facing mounting threats from pollution, maritime traffic and destructive fishing
• A new deep-sea expedition led by One Ocean Foundation used a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to explore depths beyond 1,000 meters for the first time, documenting rare corals, sponges, monk seals — and significant human damage, including coral mortality and marine animals entangled in plastic

🔭 The context: Caprera Canyon cycles nutrients, stores carbon and sustains a rich community of marine species
• Yet unlike other sensitive Mediterranean zones, it currently has no legal protection
• Researchers found endangered bamboo coral smothered by fishing gear, deep-sea species impacted by noise and pollution, and plastic waste even at extreme depths
• Since 2019, marine biologist Ginevra Boldrocchi has been gathering evidence to secure multiple layers of protection
• The canyon was named a Mission Blue Hope Spot in 2024, but formal protections remain absent

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Underwater canyons like Caprera play an outsized role in ocean health: they regulate nutrient flow, support endangered species and store carbon
• Losing them to overfishing and pollution would erase irreplaceable biodiversity and weaken the Mediterranean’s ecological resilience

⏭️ What’s next: Using new ROV footage and environmental DNA samples, One Ocean Foundation will submit formal protection proposals to Italian and EU authorities in 2026
• The data could determine whether the canyon becomes one of the Mediterranean’s next legally protected marine sanctuaries

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