Following on from our blog about the devastation being caused by bottom-trawl fishing, a new report by Oceana UK has found that 20,000 hours of suspected bottom trawling wrecked our offshore marine “protected” areas in 2024. That much bottom trawling would score tracks on the seabed that would stretch around the UK eight times.
Ancient coral gardens, delicate seagrass meadows, magnificent ocean wildlife – bottom trawling is like a plough on the seabed, scouring, scarring and ultimately destroying it all. Which makes it all the more shocking that 90% of the UK’s marine protected areas remain open to this highly damaging type of fishing.
ORCA is standing with Oceana UK in demanding a ban on bottom trawling in marine protected areas.
You can help by sending an email to Secretary of State, Steve Reed. Oceana UK have made it super simple and takes less than 30 seconds: https://act.for-the-ocean.org/act/protect-uk-marine-havens
