Scottish government announces action on damaging trawling in protected areas
The Scottish government has announced new restrictions on damaging bottom trawling taking place in protected sea areas in the region.
The fishing practice decimates the seafloor and can indiscriminately trap marine species as it ploughs ahead. Astonishingly, this destruction is allowed to take place in UK waters that are designated as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). WDC has campaigned hard to get UK governments to establish some of these protected spaces, and this is why we have been joining the call for a bottom trawling ban.
The announcement has been described by officials in Scotland as a ‘major milestone’ but has been met with caution by some environmental experts who have been critical that the new measures do not include the most heavily fished areas.
The restrictions, which include full and partial areas closures, will begin in mid October and cover 20 MPAs in offshore waters between 12 and 200 nautical miles from the coast of Scotland.
Earlier in the year our experts joined a group of leading marine scientists calling on the UK government to ban the use of bottom-towed fishing gear within protected ocean areas around the whole of the UK.
UK seas are home to an incredible, diverse range of marine habitats and wildlife and the protected areas that have been put in place by the government should act as havens supporting that wildlife and enabling it to thrive. Yet, while the UK has designated more than 30% of domestic waters as MPAs, many of these are currently little more than lines on a map, since they remain open to highly destructive bottom trawling and dredging.
These fishing practices involve the dragging of heavy nets across the seabed, which scoop up everything in their path. They are also highly carbon-intensive – due to the amount of fuel needed to tow such heavy gear, and can erode the vast organic carbon stores found in seabed habitats. Bottom trawling in UK waters is only economically viable thanks to existing government fuel subsidies.
Find out more about Marine protected Areas and how we are helping to create safer places for whale and dolphins to live here.
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