It is estimated that the annual quantity of red coral fished in the Mediterranean Sea is 70 tons (FAO, 1989). The species does not seem in danger, but on the other hand, its high economic value, or simply its attractiveness to amateur divers has provoked over-exploitation of the shallower zones, resulting in its complete disappearance from many places along our coasts.
Until quite recently, professional fishing used trawling apparatuses. The Saint-André Cross consists of a wooden or, more recently a steel, cross with nets attached. Trawled along the bottom at 50m by boats, the Cross breaks up the coral colonies and the pieces are caught by the nets. Such proceedings bring up 1 to 2 tons of coral a year. But the damage done on the bottom is important and arbitrary. On the other hand, the numerous small pieces which break loose stay on the bottom and allow for re-colonisation.

Nowadays, most of the fishing is done in autonomous diving suits; a diver is capable of collecting up to 200-300kg a year in about 200 dives. This method is much more selective. The coral fisher, not wanting to destroy his own coral bed, will only collect the larger branches (of more than 7mm in diameter) which have a higher commercial value. Unfortunately, new techniques in jewellery using synthetic resins, are capable of reconstructing pieces of coral from skeletal fragments reduced to powder. This could encourage the collection of the smaller colonies, which up to present, were not commercialised.