For 40 years, fishery managers have protected the Oculina Bank, a deep-sea reef off Central Florida’s east coast that is the only place in the world where Oculina varicose corals—which grow a mere half inch a year—are known to form towering structures as high as 100 feet.
But now the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is considering allowing shrimp trawling in a buffer zone, which the council added to the protected area in 2014 to prevent trawling damage to newly discovered corals.
The Pew Charitable Trusts testified during a public meeting on June 12 in opposition to the council’s discussion, arguing that the heavy trawl fishing gear could stir up sediments that risk suffocating and killing the corals.
The Oculina Bank, which stretches 150 miles from Fort Pierce to St. Augustine in waters as deep as 350 feet, was almost destroyed by trawling in the 1970s and early 1980s, prompting fishery managers in 1984 to prohibit trawling, fish traps, longlines, and anchoring in the area. During the ensuing four decades, the corals have shown signs of recovery, and today they play host to abundant marine life and fish species that are important to recreational and commercial fishermen, including gag grouper, snowy grouper, and red snapper.
This move to lift the protections comes despite the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) rejection of a similar request in 2022. The council is expected to make a final decision on the trawling question later this year and would again need NOAA’s approval.