Bottom trawling in European waters costs society up to €11bn a year, new study finds.

A first-of-its-kind study released today found that this cost is largely due to carbon dioxide emissions from disturbed sediments on the seafloor.

The study is the first to measure the full economic cost of bottom trawling in European waters - including the EU, UK, Norway and Iceland.

https://mediafaro.org/article/20250325-bottom-trawling-in-european-waters-costs-society-up-to-11bn-a-year-new-study-finds?mf_channel=mastodon&action=forward

_The Evening Post_, 7 March 1925:
THE OYSTER SEASON
FIRST CATCH LANDED
HOW THE TRAWLERS WORK
An excellent haul of “the first #oysters of the season” was made by the #Bluff #trawling fleet on Tuesday last, a total of four small steamers being engaged in the task, and returning to port laden with luscious bivalves.
The fleet made for the main oyster beds between Dog Island and the island of Ruapuke. These beds are always tried out at the first of the season, for they lie in shallow water … and it has been found that the shallow water oysters are the best, being hard-shalled [sic], large, and plump. The sea-floor of Foveaux Strait is covered from the western to the eastern extremity with huge oyster beds.…
The beds having been reached after 1½ hours steaming, the crew of five men on each boat commenced the serious work of the day. The boats began to steam slowly up against the tide at four knots per hour, and the dredging gear was got ready. There are two dredges on each boat—one forward arid one aft. They are worked both on the same side of the boat, and are slung over the side on half-inch wire rope running through derricks attached to the fore and mizzen masts.…
[A detailed description follows]
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19211217.2.79.20
#OnThisDay #OTD #PapersPast #Fishing #Southland #FoveauxStrait #NewZealand

NGOs take legal action against the Netherlands’ North Sea bottom trawling https://www.endseurope.com/article/1901769/ngos-legal-action-against-netherlands-north-sea-bottom-trawling #MPAs #Trawling #Netherlands

_The Evening Post_, 9 November 1923:
SEA FISHERIES
ADDITIONAL SAFEGUARDS
The development of the #fishing industry in New Zealand waters has been considerable in recent years, so considerable, in fact, that the Marine Department is finding it necessary to take additional precautions to ensure that the regulations are observed. It has been found that breaches have been occurring in some parts of the Dominion, and this has led to the reorganisation of the system of sea #fisheries inspection and the appointment of more #inspectors. Certain limits are prescribed within which #trawling may be carried out, and the fresh appointments have been made with the view to more efficiently safeguarding the interests of sea fisheries generally.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19231109.2.89

24-Oct-2024
When we disturb the seabed, we get more #carbonDioxide and increase the risk of oxygen depletion
A new study from Aarhus University shows that disturbances of the seabed from #trawling equipment and #dredging can lead to a series of negative consequences for both the marine #environment and the global ecosystem.

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1062523 #science #ClimateCatastrophe #SeaFloor #ocean #MarineBiology

NGOs take France to court over trawling in Mediterranean 'protected' marine areas

France currently allows highly destructive fishing methods such as #BottomTrawling in so-called ‘protected’ marine areas in the Mediterranean, despite a Europe-wide ban

BLOOM and ClientEarth are filing a lawsuit in the Administrative Court of Paris to ensure that France finally complies with laws to protect the Mediterranean

https://www.clientearth.org/latest/press-office/press/ngos-take-france-to-court-over-trawling-in-mediterranean-protected-marine-areas/

King Salmon Bycatch Reached in Gulf, Polluck Fishery Shut Down for Year
Crewmembers haul full bag of pollock aboard. Image-NOAA

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This week the federal government shut down the harvest of all polluck in the Gulf of Alast after two fishing vessels took over 2,000 chinook from the region as bycatch.

The news drew immediate...
https://alaska-native-news.com/king-salmon-bycatch-reached-in-gulf-polluck-fishery-shut-down-for-year/75883/
#bycatch #closure #dragging #trawling

Global fisheries must change to avoid ocean collapse, study says

https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2024/09/global-fisheries-must-change-to-avoid-ocean-collapse-study-says/

“We expect the ocean to continue to perform vital ecosystem functions, like producing clean water and taking carbon out from the atmosphere and storing it in sediments,” he said. “But these are things that only can be guaranteed from healthy marine ecosystems. And what fishing is doing is destroying those ecosystems.”

Peltola Introduces Pair of Fish Bills to Restrict Bottom Trawling, Reduce Bycatch
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WASHINGTON – Wednesday, Representative Mary Peltola (AK-AL) introduced a pair of bills to restrict bottom trawling and reduce bycatch – the bipartisan Bycatch Reduction and Mitigation Act and the Bottom Trawl Clarity Act....
https://alaska-native-news.com/peltola-introduces-pair-of-fish-bills-to-restrict-bottom-trawling-reduce-bycatch/74193/
#peltola #trawling #bycatch #bill #fisheries #alaska

Greece becomes first European country to ban bottom #trawling in marine parks - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/16/greece-becomes-first-european-country-to-ban-bottom-trawling-in-marine-parks "The law will come into force in national parks within two years and in all of the country’s marine protected areas by 2030" well done, greece, others must follow

#trawling the beat

MPAs bottom towed fishing gear bylaw - UK https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/marine-protected-areas-bottom-towed-fishing-gear-byelaw-2023 #MPAs #Trawling #Uk

New Zealand backtracks on ocean protection and lobbies for more bottom trawling https://www.greenpeace.org/aotearoa/press-release/nz-backtracks-on-south-pacific-ocean-protection-lobbies-for-more-bottom-trawling/ #Oceans #Trawling #NewZealand

#SeaShepherd Global has released footage and images of large industrial #krill #supertrawlers, once again #trawling in large pods of #whales off the #Antarctic Peninsula.
100 per cent of #Australian pharmacies surveyed carried krill oil products from the Antarctic and that Biomar, a #fish feed producer in Wesley Vale, #Tasmania, used up to 1200 tons of krill meal per year. This is the equivalent of 1 billion individual krill. #fishfarming #sustainability

https://www.echo.net.au/2024/01/krill-supertrawlers-found-trawling-through-whale-pods-in-antarctic/

Climate impact of industrial fisheries investigated in first-of-its kind study https://www.euractiv.com/section/climate-environment/news/climate-impact-of-industrial-fisheries-investigated-in-first-of-its-kind-study/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #fisheries #fishing #maritimeemissions #trawling

Seabed #trawling found to be a major source of global #CO2 #emissions
Bottom trawling, a controversial and destructive #fishing technique, releases large amounts of #carbondioxide from the seabed – and much of this #gas gets into the #atmosphere

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2412752-seabed-trawling-found-to-be-a-major-source-of-global-co2-emissions/

" #Carbon released by bottom #trawling ‘too big to ignore’, says study - #Fishing nets churn up carbon from the #sea floor, more than half of which will eventually be released into the #atmosphere ... Now, for the first time, researchers have calculated just how much trawling releases into the atmosphere: 370m tonnes of planet-heating #CarbonDioxide a year – an amount, they say, that is “too big to ignore”.

There seems to still be a wide range of estimates as to how serious this problem is for the #ClimateCrisis in the scheme of things, but given that this is a *very* conservative estimate, because this and the previous study only rely on fishing vessels which report their positions and are tracked, which account for merely 25% - the remaining 75% is a horrid "dark fleet". Regardless, this is an ongoing epic disaster for the #biosphere an #oceans - "“We have long known that dragging heavy fishing nets – some as large as 10 747 jets – across the ocean floor destroys sea life and habitats,” said Dr Trisha Atwood, an aquatic ecologist at Utah State University and National Geographic’s Pristine Seas." Bottom line (sorry for the pun) - #CommercialFishing is anything but a sustainable industry.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/18/carbon-released-by-bottom-trawling-too-big-to-ignore-says-study