Coral reefs are important habitats for sea life not to mention living creatures all of their own. Trawling really did a number on many reefs that was so terrible it was expected that those reefs would never recover. But good news! After some time protected from humanity, they’re appear to be bouncing back.

Three reefs that took heavy damage from trawling and later became protected areas have shows some signs of growth. Though the damage to the area is still very clear, the reefs have started to spawn new growths as well as showed signs that it was still pushing to survive.

This is great news! It shows that given time, in some cases many years. The reefs can come back from the damage that was done to them. Trawling is how most of our seafood is acquired but going forward, it’s important to be mindful of the damage the process is doing and how long it takes to come back from that.