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Pressure rises on trawling
Green Consumer Guide
19th October 2004
Greenpeace has reiterated its call for an immediate ban on the fishing technique of ‘bottom trawling’, after documenting a Spanish-flagged vessel carrying out the practice off Ireland this week. While the method is likely to be banned or significantly regulated before the end of the year, the environmental group is stressing the urgency of the situation.
Campaigners on the Greenpeace ship MV Esperanza documented the ‘Ivan Nores’ trawler in the Hatton Bank area of the North Atlantic, 410 miles north-west of Ireland. Bottom trawling involves dragging massive weighted nets across the seabed, and accounts for high levels of accidental bycatch as well as destroying the marine habitats that it covers.
“Bottom trawling is the most destructive activity on the high seas, and today we were able to expose the devastation they cause,” said Greenpeace’s Maria Jose Caballero. “Bottom trawlers are trashing areas that are unique and thriving habitats, and are home to probably thousands of marine species that we haven’t even discovered. Every day wasted just discussing the need for action is possibly another deep sea habitat gone.”
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