New report finds bottom trawling taking place in 98% of UK’s offshore Marine Protected Areas
Date posted: 6 January 2021
Marine Conservation Society ‘We’ve released our Marine unProtected Areas report which found that bottom trawling is taking place in a worrying 98% of the UK’s offshore Marine Protected Areas designed to protect the seabed. As a result of the report, and the yearlong research which informed it, we’re calling for a ban on bottom trawling in these protected areas.
Without a ban on this form of fishing, these areas of our seas simply aren’t recovering and we’re missing a crucial opportunity to combat climate change and ensure there are, indeed, plenty more fish in the sea.
What’s the problem? Out of all the UK’s Marine Protected Areas, just 5% currently ban bottom trawling (and only in inshore waters less than 12 miles from our coasts). Continuing to allow this fishing method in protected areas is equivalent to bulldozing a national park on land.
All but one of the offshore Marine Protected Areas, which are meant to safeguard the seabed, experienced bottom trawling and dredging between 2015 and 2018. Bottom trawl and dredge vessels spent at least 89,894 hours fishing the seabed inside Marine Protected Areas between 2015 and 2018.
It’s important that carbon currently stored in the UK’s offshore waters remains there. The Dogger Bank Marine Protected Area, off the east coast of Yorkshire, has the capacity to store the most carbon of all UK Marine Protected Areas – equivalent to 31,000 return trips from London to Sydney.
To find out more about this issue, read our summary report here. You can read the full technical report here.
Our MPA Reality Check website shows you where England’s Marine Protected Areas are, and what’s happening to them. For details of MPAs in Scotland see www.savescottishseas.org. For more insight into MPA Reality Check watch the webinar here.
Defra responds to Marine Conservation Society report on bottom trawling in MPAs Posted by: Defra Press Office, on 6th January 2021 – Categories: marine – the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has published a report offering analysis of the impact bottom trawling is having on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) as well as offering estimations on potential recovery rates and the potential benefits of banning this practice.
Now that we have left the EU, the UK has the powers to decide which vessels can access and fish in our waters. All vessels must comply with our rules around sustainability and the protection of our MPAs. We have a significant ‘Blue Belt’ of protected waters covering over 30% of the UK’s seas and continue efforts to expand this further. The government is also currently considering the recommendations outlined in the Benyon Review, which found that there is a case for higher protections in some marine areas.
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