http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/06/05/wsquid05.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/06/05/ixworld.html

(How can you pass up a headline like this...? Plus there's a rocking photo there. -- JL)

Britain is expecting a fight with other EU fishing nations on Monday as it calls for a United Nations ban on deep-sea trawling to preserve creatures such as the giant squid.

Trawling on deep-sea mountains and cold coral reefs is thought to be exceptionally damaging ecologically because of the slow growth rates of creatures at great depths.

A reef is believed to take 100,000 years to recover from the damage caused by a bottom trawl. Elliott Morley, the environment minister, said yesterday: "We would support a ban on destructive fisheries in international waters. These are very important ecosystems."

Simon Reddy, of Greenpeace, said: "More people have been into space than into the dark depths of the oceans. Scientists say there could be as many as five million species we've never discovered. Destroying sea mounts is like blowing up Mars before we get a chance to explore it."

(Thanks to JeremyT!)