Industrial vessels suspected of utilizing a dangerous fishing technique generally known as backside trawling spent greater than 33,000 hours in British marine protected areas final 12 months, a brand new evaluation of satellite tv for pc information reveals.
Ten of those vessels, primarily from the EU, had been chargeable for 1 / 4 of this exercise in offshore protected areas, in line with Oceana UK, a conservation group.
Backside trawling entails dragging metallic gear and heavy nets alongside the seafloor. It scoops up a excessive proportion of non-target marine species and has a detrimental influence on biodiversity.
The 2 most-trawled websites, in line with the evaluation, lie off the coast of Cornwall. One is the Western Channel marine reserve, off the Lizard peninsula, composed of underwater sand dunes internet hosting angler fish and small-spotted catsharks.
The opposite is South West Deeps (East), 150 miles off Land’s Finish, which has cuckoo rays, helps seals and whales, and is among the many high 5 offshore marine protected areas (MPAs) for carbon-storage capability, in line with the Marine Conservation Society.
The society estimates that the South West Deeps web site has the potential to retailer 1.7m tonnes of carbon, the equal to 1m return flights from London to Sydney. Backside trawling can launch the dangerous carbon again into the environment.
Regardless of the hurt the apply is understood to do, it’s allowed in nearly all of the UK’s MPAs, designated as sanctuaries to guard uncommon, threatened or vital ocean habitats and species to make sure wholesome marine environments.
“Industrial fishing is designed to kill marine life as effectively as doable,” stated Hugo Tagholm, the manager director of Oceana UK.
“Every little thing from sharks to starfish are hoovered up by backside trawling, which may destroy entire ecosystems and empty our seas of life. This additionally threatens communities looking for to make a sustainable residing from our seas.
“How can we name them ‘protected’ if we have now such extremely extractive industries in them? The federal government should act now to ban this from our marine protected areas.”
Oceana analysed satellite-tracking information from World Fishing Watch, a nonprofit open-access platform, and located that greater than 100,000 hours of obvious industrial fishing passed off in MPAs off the coast of Britain in 2023.
A 3rd of this was from vessels carrying bottom-towed gear, akin to backside trawls and dredges. Solely 6% of the vessels had been from the UK, and the remainder had been EU ships.
Martin Attrill, a professor of marine ecology at Plymouth College, stated it was “astounding” that trawling was nonetheless permitted in marine sanctuaries.
“Over a century of commercial backside trawling and dredging has degraded the UK seabed and nonetheless threatens a few of our remaining most vital and delicate marine habitats, impacting additional the biodiversity and resilience of our seas.”
The UK authorities, which dedicated to proscribing backside trawling in MPAs by 2024 after a 2021 authorized problem by Oceana, has been introducing bylaws to guard sure options inside sanctuaries, akin to reefs, on a site-by-site foundation.
It’s set to start a session on measures for almost all of England’s offshore MPAs this spring.
A Defra spokesperson stated it was targeted on stopping damaging fishing exercise in all English MPAs. “We purpose to have all needed bylaws in place by the top of 2024, with additional restrictions coming into drive in 13 areas simply this week.”
4 bylaws banning bottom-towed gear had been launched in 2022, masking 4 MPAs, together with Dogger Financial institution, the most important sandbank in UK waters.
An extra bylaw will prohibit backside trawling in a further 13 marine areas this week adopted by a session on draft bylaws for the Western Channel MPA and South West (Deeps) East.
