06 Aug 2024

A Private Members Bill to regulate and limit bottom trawling in MPAs, introduced by Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick, has had its first reading in the House of Lords. As currently drafted it states that the regulations must prohibit bottom trawling in MPAs. These are defined as including Marine Conservation Zones, Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas, […]

15 Jul 2024

The European Parliamentary Research Service has released a comprehensive study titled “Exploring the viability of innovative fishing technologies as an alternative to bottom trawling in European marine protected areas.” Fisheries in Europe’s marine environment use different types of mobile and static fishing gears that come into contact with the seabed, including mobile bottom-contacting gears (MBCGs) […]

18 Jun 2024

Sweden is set to become the second EU country, following Greece, to ban bottom fishing in marine protected areas (MPAs). Sweden has committed to go one step further by banning bottom trawling in all its territorial waters. At a press conference, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and his ministers announced the government’s intention to implement this […]

04 Jun 2024

A new study by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon models the influence of bottom trawls on sedimentary carbon in the North Sea. The researchers state that fishing trawls cause significant CO2 emissions as they stir up the carbon bound in the seabed and release it again. They also believe it is clear that they drastically affect ecosystems […]

30 Apr 2024

Mairi Gougeon MSP, the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform, and Islands, has written to Finlay Carson, the Chair of the Rural Affairs and Island Committee, to address the concerns regarding the sand eel fishing ban in Scotland and the challenge raised by the EU. The European Commission said that the ban […]

28 Apr 2024

The decision by the Isle of Man government to close three fishing sites in its waters by banning bottom trawling has raised concerns across the Irish Sea. The closed areas are located within the Western Irish Sea Mud-belt, a vital habitat for various marine species, notably langoustines. Despite decades of extensive trawling, the area is […]