Responding to a British request, the EU executive agreed the ban in the so-called Darwin Mounds, some 180 kilometres (112 miles) off the northwest coast of Scotland.

"This measure is designed to protect unique cold water corals which are said to be under current and immediate threat from bottom trawling," it said in a statement.

The ban, which will last initially for six months, was agreed under new measures agreed last December under a reform of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

"This is yet another encouraging example of what is possible under the reformed CFP," said Franz Fischler, EU commissioner responsible for agriculture, rural development and fisheries.

Environmentalists welcomed the decision.

"Today's announcement is great news for the Darwin Mounds," said Alison Champion of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). "WWF are delighted that the Darwin Mounds are finally receiving the protection they sorely deserve."

Only discovered in 1998, the Darwin Mounds are a unique collection of cold-water coral (Lophelia Pertusa) mounds at a depth of 1,000 metresfeet), said the WWF.

They are made up of hundreds of coral reefs up to 5 metres (16 feet) high and 100 metres (328 feet) wide covering an area of approximately 100 sq kilometres (38.6 sqare miles). The reefs support a wide diversity of marine life, such as sponges, starfish, sea urchins, crabs and deep-sea fish such as the blue ling, round-nosed grenadier and the orange roughy, it said.

But the WWF said that the most recent study of the area in 2000 clearly showed photographic evidence of smashed and fragmented corals and damage where linear channels have been cut into the reefs by fishing trawlers.

"Most of this damage occurs in the summer months when fishing activities are at their peak," it said.

The commission said it will take steps to make the ban permanent by seeking the agreement of the EU's 15 member states.

"This lifeline is fantastic news and must be followed by a permanent solution, as highlighted in today's announcement, or we risk losing the Darwin Mounds forever," said Champion.

TERRA.WIRE