"The government's policy is not to introduce whole-site bans on bottom-towed fishing gear in MPAs. Our approach is to only restrict fishing which is assessed as damaging to the specific protected features in each MPA."
"These include bottom trawling, the practice of dragging immense and heavy nets across the seabed to scoop up all in their path, most of which is discarded while more prized fish such as sole, cod and haddock are kept."
"The issue became more prominent after being highlighted in a film by Sir David Attenborough released earlier this year to coincide with his 99th birthday. It showed the barren destruction left in the wake of the trawlers, with areas that once thronged with fish, seahorses and other marine life decimated."
Bottom trawling will continue in English marine protected areas under current government policy, which refuses whole-site bans on bottom-towed fishing gear. Fishing is to be restricted only when assessed as damaging to specific protected features of each MPA. Environmental groups label many MPAs as "paper parks" because protections do not prevent destructive industrial methods. Other jurisdictions, including the EU (target 2030), Sweden and Greece, have moved to ban trawling in MPAs. A Commons committee has urged reconsideration of a complete ban and called for clarity on preserving MPA integrity amid visible seabed destruction.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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