What You Need to Know
Bottom trawling is one of the world’s most destructive fishing practices. By dragging weighted nets along the ocean floor — some up to 240 meters wide — bottom trawling devastates coastal habitats, kills marine life indiscriminately, and depletes fish stocks. Just as bulldozing a forest destroys an ecosystem that has taken centuries to grow, bottom trawling decimates the seabed in a single motion, scraping up coral reefs and any other life in its path.
Shockingly, bottom trawling is still permitted in some of Europe’s most fragile underwater ecosystems even though they have been designated as marine protected areas (MPAs).
