Thirty to 40 kilometers off the coast of Tel Aviv, in an area once thought to be relatively barren of sea life, a deep water expedition discovered a huge reef of deep-sea corals stretching for several kilometers, some 700 meters under the sea. The exploration vessel, Nautilus, with a team of 11 Israeli experts from the University of Haifa's School of Marine Sciences (CSMS), preformed deep water surveys along most of the Israeli coast that had a broad scientific importance. Following the unique data gathered in this expedition and in the spirit of the Barcelona Convention, the Israeli Nature and Park Authority has presented a plan for marine reserves and marine protected areas along the Israeli coastline. These protected areas takes 20% of the Israeli sovereign water and include areas of reproduction activity or biological interest. This first large scale marine spatial planning in the eastern Mediterranean marks Israel as a leading force in marine conservation in the area.
Med Sea
marine invasions: Israel,
sitting in proximity to the outlet of the Suez canal into the Mediterranean
Sea, is a leading force in research of marine invasions and marine alien
species penetrating from the Red Sea.
Prof. Bella Galil, a world known expert in
the Mediterranean deep sea fauna has recently described 6 alien jellyfish, as a
part of the 2011 JellyWatch survey. This is a global record in invasive
jellies, and Israeli scientists are serching for ways to stop this alarming
biological invasions to the Mediterranean Sea.