Stop bottom trawling in UK's protected waters
Our report has found bottom trawling taking place in 98% of the UK’s offshore Marine Protected Areas designed to protect the seabed.
As a result of our Marine unProtected Areas report, and the year-long research which informed it, we’re calling for a ban on bottom trawling in these protected areas.
Bottom trawling is a method of fishing that can damage the seabed, kill animals and plants, and release carbon from the seafloor which can enter our atmosphere and contribute to climate change.
What’s the problem?
Out of all the UK’s Marine Protected Areas, just 5% currently ban bottom trawling (and only in inshore waters less than 12 miles from our coasts). Continuing to allow this fishing method in protected areas is equivalent to bulldozing a national park on land.
All but one of the offshore Marine Protected Areas, which are meant to safeguard the seabed, experienced bottom trawling and dredging between 2015 and 2018. Bottom trawl and dredge vessels spent at least 89,894 hours fishing the seabed inside Marine Protected Areas between 2015 and 2018.
It’s important that carbon currently stored in the UK’s offshore waters remains there. The Dogger Bank Marine Protected Area, off the east coast of Yorkshire, has the capacity to store the most carbon of all UK Marine Protected Areas – equivalent to 31,000 return trips from London to Sydney.
Credit: Colin Munro/Marine-bio-images
What needs to be done?
By completely banning bottom trawling in Marine Protected Areas designed to protect the seabed, it is possible for our seas to recover.
By banning bottom trawling we can:
- Conserve seabed species and habitats
- Reduce carbon emissions
- Sustain our food supply
- Protect jobs in the fishing industry
- Save money
To find out more about this issue, read our summary report here. You can read the full technical report here.