bottom trawler tagged posts

European leaders are facing growing pressure from campaigners and ocean advocates to strengthen regulation and the enforcement of protections afforded to many of their marine protected areas by banning destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling within their waters for good.

Led by a consortium of environmental campaigners including the Blue Marine Foundation, Oceana, Only One, and Seas at Risk, the Protect Our Catch campaign has published an open letter addressed directly to the French President, Emmanuel Macron and the EU Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, which warns that without urgent action against trawling, Europe’s protected marine spaces risk being stripped of marine life.

Backed by a community of fishers as well as thousands of citizen activis...

The government is under pressure to safeguard Britain’s marine conservation areas after analysis showed the Dogger Bank protected site has seen a threefold increase in destructive bottom trawling since Brexit. A year ago, conservationists welcomed government proposals to ban trawling and dredging fishing practices, which involve dragging weighted nets over the seabed, in 14,030 sq km (5,400 sq miles) of English waters, an area equivalent to the size of Northern Ireland. The area includes Dogger Bank and three other marine protected areas (MPAs).

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) analysed fishing data tracked by Global Fishing Watch and found bottom trawling and dredging had increased at the site from about 1,700 hours a year between 2015 and 2018, to 5,500 hours a year between...

The government is under pressure to safeguard Britain’s marine conservation areas after analysis showed the Dogger Bank protected site has seen a threefold increase in destructive bottom trawling since Brexit. A year ago, conservationists welcomed government proposals to ban trawling and dredging fishing practices, which involve dragging weighted nets over the seabed, in 14,030 sq km (5,400 sq miles) of English waters, an area equivalent to the size of Northern Ireland. The area includes Dogger Bank and three other marine protected areas (MPAs).

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) analysed fishing data tracked by Global Fishing Watch and found bottom trawling and dredging had increased at the site from about 1,700 hours a year between 2015 and 2018, to 5,500 hours a year between...

In a possible victory for UK oceans, four key areas of the seabed off England may soon be off-limits to bottom-trawlers. Using post-Brexit powers to protect marine life, the Marine Management Organization will consult on proposed bylaws to prohibit vessels from engaging in bottom trawling in four of England’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), The Guardian reported. The consultation runs through March 28, 2021, BBC reported.

This highly destructive form of fishing involves dragging weighted nets along the seabed in search of scallops, sand eels, sole, cod, crab and other bottom-dwelling animals, reported BBC...