The Gorringe bank, located 210 kilometres west of Portugal, between the Azores and the Strait of Gibraltar along the Azores–Gibraltar fault zone and is considered one of the most important underwater areas of environmental diversity of Europe.
One of the mountainous peaks, the Gettysburg Seamount, is just 25 metres below the ocean surface with a base 5,000 metres below sea level.
"The Gorringe bank is unique for its huge biodiversity and with some of its own species in the Atlantic and Mediterranean on the surface and at great depths. It is one of the underwater gems of Portugal and the North-East Atlantic, although little is known by the general public", explained Ricardo Aguilar from Oceana, the international organisation for the protection of oceans.
Last week, Oceana congratulated the Portuguese government for its decision to include the Gorringe bank in the Natura 2000 network as a Site of Community Importance (SCI).
"Since 2005, Oceana has worked to get some of the most spectacular underwater mountains in the world integrated into the network of protected areas of the Atlantic" said the organisation.
Oceana has identified more than 350 species during scientific expeditions with divers and using underwater robots between 2005 and 2012.
"It's nice finally to get news that the Gorringe bank is a protected space," said Lasse Gustavsson, CEO of Oceana for Europe.
"Oceana began working for the protection of these mountains ten years ago, so this classification encourages us to continue to investigate the seabed at great depths in order to identify sites to be protected. The deep sea is still unknown and we will continue our research in order to help protect the most valuable places."
Modern seismologists studying probable causes of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and the resulting tsunami suspected a displacement in the Gorringe Ridge, but later concluded that there was a simultaneous event involving two separate faults along the African Plate boundary, both faults displacing by around 20 metres.
Closer to the mainland, the Portuguese government has no qualms in handing over the stewardship of the underwater ecology to the oil companies to which it has granted exploration rights off the Algarve and Alentejo coastlines. With no environmental impace assessments required at the exploration drilling stage, the scene is set for a big argument should there be any accidental discharge now or in the future.
