Canada moves to protect coral reef that scientists say ‘shouldn’t exist’

Fish swimming among the pink coral in the Lophelia Reef, in the Finlayson Channel off British Columbia, Canada. Photograph: Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Deep in the hostile waters off Canada’s west coast, in a narrow channel surrounded by fjords, lies a coral reef that scientists believe “shouldn’t exist”. The reef is the northernmost ever discovered in the Pacific Ocean and offers researchers a new glimpse into the resilience – and unpredictability – of the deep-sea ecosystems.

For generations, members of the Kitasoo Xai’xais and Heiltsuk First Nations, two communities off the Central Coast region of British Columbia, had noticed large groups of rockfish congregating in a fjord system.