Members of the Marine Support Group (GSM) of the Cos d'Agents Rurals and members of the aquatic unit of the Mossos d'Esquadra Maritime Police have located underwater markers in the red coral colonies of the Cap de Creus Partial Nature Reserve.
The main hypothesis is that they had installed some poachers with the aim of fishing for the coral in subsequent dives.
The markers appeared following an inspection carried out on the two occupants of a boat that carried out underwater dives.
The identification of both people, who had complete self-contained breathing equipment underwater, confirmed that they had been reported on more than one occasion for this practice.
Given suspicions that they could be illegally fishing for coral, the Mossos underwater unit was requested to intervene.
In the dive carried out on the same day in the same place where the boat was identified with both individuals with a history of poaching activity with coral, Mossos found an underwater marker on coral colonies.
It turns out that the Rurales had located a marker with the same characteristics on the inspected vessel. A second dive carried out later by Mossos did not reveal any remains of coral, nor the tools used to remove it.
The main hypothesis is that they found the alleged poachers marking the areas with red coral and later returning and taking it. The coral from partial nature reserves is the most appreciated since it is where this species is best preserved.
Coral fishing within the Partial Nature Reserve of Cap de Creus and the Cap de Creus Natural Park is totally prohibited.
Red coral is characterized by extremely low growth rates, consequently the time periods necessary for colony recovery are estimated to be several decades. To encourage its recovery, a moratorium on red coral fishing was established for a period of 10 years.
