#bottom-trawling

#bottom-trawling

A heavy metal net is dragged across the seafloor at breakneck speed, churning up dark clouds of sediment and swallowing everything in its path. A blue-spotted stingray tries to flee, flailing its winglike pectoral fins as the trawl closes in from behind, but its efforts are in vain. This unprecedented footagea scene in David Attenborough's latest documentary Oceanis the first time bottom trawling has been captured in high definition, exposing a practice rarely seen by the public.

"Surely you would think such an activity is illegal," Attenborough says, pointing out that not only is it legal, but also state subsidised, part of the $20bn spent every year supporting the overfishing...