Destructive Trawling: Reefs to Rubble

Oceana gives a short introduction to bottom trawling and its effects on marine habitats that are vital to the survival of marine species across the globe.

To learn more about bottom trawling and what Oceana is doing to curtail its use, visit http://na.oceana.org/en/our-work/promote-responsible-fishing/bottom-trawling/....

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Oceana
• bottom trawling
• overfishing
• marine conservation
• ocean conservation
• coral
• coral reefs

[marine332]

@ninjapadraig. The article in New Scientist doesn't refute this at all, they talk about squid and other fish in a recently trawled zone. The problem highlighted is about destruction to bottom habitates and species.

Trawlers won't go over rocky areas or coral reef areas but that doesn't mean that the practice is not hugely destructive.

[RainbowXpress]

@ninjapadraig Could you kindly supply the link for this article. When I go to the November 25, 2010 issue of New Scientist on line, there is no such article. However there are several articles in the New Scientist archives that confirm the damage done by bottom trawling, I seem to remember you yesterday making some kind of comment about "evidence"...

[ninjapadraig]

New Scientist article Nov 25 2010 refutes this video

[Vickybookgirl]

The same tired old footage that Green peace etc show. They don't show the modern trawl nets - lighter net and boards, with devices to let the non-target critters out, etc. Fishing is targeted because most people don't know the truth and believe everything told to them by people who use their lack of knowledge for their own power. It is not about saving anything, it is all about power and peoples donations to keep them in business. Find articles by Ray Hilborn and Walter Stark for the truth.

[Goofus5453]

This is a bald face lie.Trawelers don't drag there gear over reefs, it would tear them up. This crap is just one more example of science bullshit. As long they keep crying gloom and doom the grant will keep flowing, and thats what its all about, money.That and flower headed treehuggers who don't know there ass's from a hole in the ground.

[ThePrawnfisherman]

im a prawn fisherman get a fucking life find sumthing better to do with ur time assholes wouldnt hav the slightest clue on how a prawn trawler works or catchs anything so fuck off stop trying to destroy the seafood industry u wanker!!!!!!!!!

[Iammushy]

Even though trawlers are not the main part of coral reef destruction, they still do take a part in it. Do you guys not even care that 20% of the world's coral reefs have already been destroyed, 24% are under imminent risk of being destroyed and another 26% are under long term threat. That leaves only 30% unthreatened. Coral reefs can be thousands of years old, dating back from the last ice age.

[strikenetter]

all i ever hear out of biologists is ecological damage , and bycatch derived from commercial fishing operations and how gillnet is nothing but death and destruction. I gillnet and have only a .5 % bycatch rate. In the right hands a trawl net has the same bycatch rate, for i use one shrimping. LIES LIES LIES LIES and of course more LIES. IF you people want to save the fish pops. start with pollution in rivers where many fish, sound and ocean species spawn. Find somewhere for ur shit to go !

[ShaktivaIrahs]

I find most comments here downward lazy. So, because they havent have the right argument, it's not real? Native fishermen lose their income and food because trawlers indiscriminately throw out their nets and rob them of seafood, as in West-Africa?.

Many harbors complain the fish has left and many are now unemployed seeking new jobs.

It's not just netting but ploughing, just like those diamondships. I havent seen much choice of seafood lately on the markets, to me that says something.'s up.

[SincereConcern]

Yes, it stands to reason that if a net were to be snagged on a reef it would be torn.

However, during bottom trawling over sand, sediment from the ocean floor is swirled up into the water. This causes problems such as blocking out sun from reaching marine plants, dead zones from phosphorus released from sediment, and stirring up pollutants that can harm plankton (and thus the rest of the food chain).