Maybe.
Looking more closely at the lighting, it appears that the left searchlight has a bluer light than the right one and it also appears to be brighter. This may have an effect on the perception.
There are several optical effects that may play a role in this picture. The "vanishing of shadows" is one that lowers the contrast of the mid picture area. Another possible effect is the
Gloria effect that may cause the areas surrounding the middle area to appear brighter, i.e. the effect you comment on.
Finally, backscattering (
or Heiligenschein) may also play a role. But I believe that this effect is dependent on the surface characteristics of the subject. For example dewy grass often makes this visible, but in this picture we don't have such features.
Of course it's also entirely possible that, for example, there were some human remains on the seabed at that spot and BEA did not want to show those to the world. But lighting effects are IMO more likely.