Secluded in a deep, cool habitat far from shore,the Gulf contains some of the healthiest coral reefs in the world. It is located 160 km off the coast of Texas.
Divers heading down into blue waters off the coast of Texas descend beneath an alien landscape of underwater mountains covered in an endless supply of yellow, orange, and pink coral. The horizon is punctuated by oil and gas platforms.
About 100 miles (160 kilometers) off the coast of Texas, in the Gulf of Mexico, are some of the healthiest coral reefs in the world. The reefs of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary are sheltered in a cool, deep environment that is far from the coast, and they are remarkably covered in coral. However, scientists warn that, like all reefs, they are delicate and that, in the face of global warming, their location will only provide temporary protection.
“It’s truly amazing to see so much coral in one location—something that most people don’t get to see on reefs these days,” stated Michelle Johnston, the federally protected area’s acting superintendent and research coordinator.
This year, the sanctuary experienced some mild bleaching, but not nearly as much as other reefs suffered during the summer’s extreme heat. Nevertheless, Johnston stated that’s one of her main worries about the future of the sanctuary. Too-warm waters force corals to shed their vibrant algae and turn white. If the temperature drops, they can still live, but they become more susceptible to illness and may even perish.
The third-largest coral reef in the world, Florida’s, underwent an unprecedented and possibly fatal degree of bleaching this summer. At least 35 nations and territories in five oceans and seas have seen widespread coral bleaching so far this year, according to Derek Manzello, coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch program. According to him, it’s too soon to tell how much of Florida’s reefs will recover because coral can die up to a year or two following bleaching.
According to Manzello, climate models indicate that starting around 2040, all of the coral on Earth will experience severe bleaching annually.
“The prognosis is not good if you have severe bleaching events every year because that basically means the corals aren’t going to have a chance to recover,” he stated.
Even in the rare years when Flower Garden Banks has seen more severe bleaching than this year, according to sanctuary officials, it has swiftly recovered because of its general health and depth, and it is already beginning to recover this year.
A report examining the sanctuary’s susceptibility to the anticipated consequences of climate change is anticipated in the upcoming months.
The Flower Garden Banks are unique in that they have an average of more than 50% coral cover in some areas of the sanctuary, compared to the Caribbean and Northwest Atlantic region’s 10% cover, according to Manzello. In addition, its corals are encircled by even deeper waters, some 60 feet (18 meters) below the surface, unlike many reefs that have corals in shallower water just offshore.
Fishermen reported in the early 1900s that they could see a vibrant display of color in the Gulf waters, resembling a blooming garden. However, the location of this unusual spot was so far offshore that scientists conducting the first dives in the 1960s were taken aback to discover thriving coral reefs.
According to Johnston, salt domes, which resemble mountains, are what allowed the corals in the Flower Garden Banks to thrive so far out from the coast by raising them high enough to receive light.
Divers from all over the world come to Flower Garden Banks to witness the reefs, where worms resembling Christmas trees pop in and out of corals and colorful fish, manta rays, sharks, and sea turtles swam.
Attorney Andy Lewis of Houston said that he had known the sanctuary was “going to have to be part of my life” since his first visit approximately ten years ago. Lewis started working as a divemaster and is currently the president of Texas Caribbean Charters, a company that arranges diving trips for about 1,000 visitors annually, of whom roughly half return.
Lewis, who is a member of the sanctuary’s advisory board, described the experience as “just a real adventure.” “I enjoy boarding the boat.”
That boat departs from a location close to Galveston, where sediment from the Mississippi River is dropped by currents, turning the water close to the coast murky brown. The water is blue and clear when the boat motors out to the sanctuary.
Lewis remarked, “You fall and you are on top of live coral as far as you can see.”
Colorado nurse Lauren Tinnes told of rounding a bluff on her dive this fall and seeing enormous reefs encircling her while schools of fish darted through. She said, “It’s like a field of flowers,” finding the description from so long ago to be appropriate.
The NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries protects 15 national marine sanctuaries and two national marine monuments, of which the Flower Garden Banks is the only one in the Gulf of Mexico.
The sanctuary spans 160 square miles (414 square kilometers) and is composed of 17 distinct banks. The sanctuary contained two banks when it was established in 1992. Its largest and most recent expansion of 14 banks occurred in 2021. Advisory committee members, who represent a variety of Gulf-dependent industries, including fishing, oil and gas, and recreation, provided input during this process.
According to Johnston, lowering stress levels is one strategy to support the health of the reefs. This entails ensuring that mooring buoys provide a spot for boats to moor so that their anchors don’t harm reefs and removing invasive species that might lead to a decrease in fish populations.
According to Manzello, such initiatives are being carried out in the hopes that worldwide greenhouse gas emissions will also be reduced.
Manzello stated, “To truly shepherd coral reefs through the next 20, 30, 40 years, we need all of these things happening in concert.”
Approximately 25% of marine species depend on coral reefs for some stage of their life cycles. They stimulate the economy as well. They not only generate income for tourism but also support commercial fishing by giving fish a healthy place to live.
Kelly Drinnen, an education and outreach specialist for the Flower Garden Banks, stated, “We want to keep them that way because coral reefs are declining all over the world.” Additionally, they act as sort of archives for materials that might one day be needed to restore another reef.
In fact, Moody Gardens, a tourist attraction with an aquarium on Galveston Island, is banking and studying healthy coral samples from the sanctuary in a lab. This involves replanting coral fragments in the hopes of growing them out in the future.
The massive oil spill that followed the 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion killed many, but it spared other reefs in the Gulf of Mexico, not the Flower Garden Banks. Reef restoration in the sanctuary is being guided in part by data collected from studies of its deeper habitat.
The genetics of the coral found on Flower Garden Banks is also being studied by researchers to see if it differs from species found in Florida.