Drilling for gas in Mediterranean Sea will threaten valuable marine life, says WWF

WWF - 

Colossal deep-sea gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean’s Levant Sea are causing a scramble to start drilling – while concerns for irreversible damage to outstanding marine biodiversity, as well as legally binding restrictions on deep-sea exploitation, are being ignored.

“The deep-sea floor in the Levant is teeming with life of a very special and unique kind. WWF strongly condemns blind drilling on biodiversity hotspots that could cause irreversible damage,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean.

“These unique marine ecosystems are particularly fragile, and vulnerable to external interference – they have evolved in a highly stable, low-energy environment which has led to the creation of exceptionally rare ecosystems.”

The recently discovered Leviathan gas field, 135 km off the coast of Israel, is the world’s biggest deepwater gas find in a decade – with an estimated volume of 16 trillion cubic feet of gas – while the West Nile Delta gas field, discovered earlier this year, lies in Egyptian waters, 80 km northwest of Alexandria.

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