Scientists say damaged underwater mountain chain near Hawaii is making an amazing comeback

After fearing the worst, scientists were excited to discover baby corals slowly growing along the Hawaiian-Emperor Seamount Chain.

In a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, researchers from Florida State University and Texas A&M University wrote about the underwater mountain range, which was damaged in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s by trawling. That fishing practice, which involves dragging nets along the seafloor, disturbed the area, severely harming deep-sea corals and sponges.

One of the study's authors, Amy Baco-Taylor, told Earth.com that it's been "hypothesized that these areas, if they've been trawled, that there's not much hope for them. So, we explored these sites fully expecting not to find any sign of recovery. But we were surprised to find evidence that some species are starting to come back to these areas."

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The researchers sent an underwater vehicle and submersible down four times, and took 536,000 images of different parts of the seamount in order to take a close look at what's growing. They spotted evidence of sponges and tiny corals in the trawl scars, and as this area is federally protected, Baco-Taylor said it shows that "long-term protection allows for recovery of vulnerable species."