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Coral reef found in Drammen fjord
The Port of
Drammen is an inland deepwater port situated 45 km south-west of Oslo in the
County of Buskerud. The harbour is located at the nothern end of the Drammen
Fjord and on the eastuary of the river Drammen. It is a freshwater port and
freshwater is available at every quays.
|
Divers
in the Drammen fjord made a remarkable and surprising discovery. At a depth of
10-20 meters a team from the magazine Dykking (Diving) confirmed what had
previously only been a whispered rumor - the presence of an unspoiled coral
reef in southern Norway.
For
many years, heavy sewage discharge and decayed and lifeless bottom water have
made their mark on inner Oslo Fjord. Further, high levels of environmental
toxicants both in the bottom sediments and in cod livers are continual
problems in many parts of the Oslo Fjord. ‘Project Clean Oslo Fjord’ is
working for a cleaner fjord, so that important goals can in time be attained
in all parts of the fjord, such as clean bathing water, contaminant-free
seafood and the reestablishment of the fjord’s natural content of oxygen,
large variety of plant and animal species and rich shrimp and fish life.
The composition of the fjord’s animal
and plant life has changed in inner Oslo Fjord and the biological variety has
reduced as a consequence of pollution. Large discharges of badly treated and
untreated sewage have plainly led to decayed and lifeless bottom water and
occasionally to sewage-polluted bathing water, especially in parts of inner
Oslo Fjord. Good exchange of water and favourable climate conditions improved
the situation considerably in 1996, but the state of affairs is now worsening
again because additions of pollution are too great in this threshold fjord
with naturally low water exchange. In many places in the Oslo Fjord, the
sediment is highly contaminated, and raised levels of contamination are also
found in mussels in certain areas. It is advised not to consume cod liver
from inner Oslo Fjord, Drammen Fjord and Sandefjord Fjord because of the high
content of the pollutant PCB. Outfall water from sewage treatment plants and
oil refineries in the Oslo Fjord is known to have a endocrine disrupting
effect on fish, and it is feared that this already has disturbed the
reproductive abilities of fish in the fjord. Many reports have been drawn up on the
pollution situation in the Oslo Fjord, and a number of remedial initiatives
have been set under way. But the inflow of environmental toxicants,
endocrine-disrupting chemicals, untreated sewage, industrial wastes and
organic material to the fjord must be reduced still further. In a number of
areas there is in addition a need to remove or cover up sediments with a high
pollution content. Furthermore, separate actions to improve the oxygen
situation could be a requirement in badly affected areas. |
"It was very impressive. The reef is
very low and only about 10-20 meters deep. It is on a slope near land and is
about 30-40 meters long. Part of the floor is covered with a thick carpet of coral
reef," Dykking editor Kai Garseg told newspaper Drammens Tidende.
"In some spots there were large coral
blocks looming two to three meters above the sea floor. The reef itself is dead
but we were surprised by how much life there is in and around it," Garseg
said.
The reef was originally discovered by Polish
diver Leszek Piotr Zochowski who only grudgingly revealed the spot to Garseg,
on condition that its exact location be kept secret.
Garseg said the find was remarkable, not
only because it was virtually intact, but because it was extremely rare to find
a reef of this size in shallow water, and so far north. Drammen is 42 km (26
miles) southwest of Oslo.
Coral researcher Pål B. Mortensen believes
the coral in the Drammen fjord is Lophelia, a deep water type, and over 7,000
years old, and has probably been dead for several thousand years.
The reason the deep water coral is so near
land is due to the fjord, and the Drammen River, being about 100 meters
shallower than it was before the last ice age.
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Posted September 9, 2003