bottom trawling

Deepwater corals thrive at the bottom of the ocean, but can’t escape human impacts

3 December, 2018

Source: The Conversation
Author: Sandra Brooke

When people think of coral reefs, they typically picture warm, clear waters with brightly colored corals and fishes. But other corals live in deep, dark, cold waters, often far from shore in remote locations. These varieties are just as ecologically important as their shallow water counterparts. They also are just as vulnerable to human activities like fishing and energy production.

Continue reading Deepwater corals thrive at the bottom of the ocean, but can’t escape human impacts

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Novel ecosystems in the deep sea

24 October, 2018

Source: Ecologist
Author: Oliver Tickell

Innovative research is uncovering previously unknown species in deep seas vulnerable to over-fishing, pollution and habitat destruction.

Oceans researcher and campaigner Alex Rogers first experienced the full visual impact of ocean plastic pollution in 2015: “I was diving in Honduras in 2015 at Utila in the Bay Islands and there were all these beautiful coral reefs, but as we came around the island we were faced with a raft of rubbish stretching out as far as you could see: plastic bottles, expanded polystyrene, fibreglass, every kind of human waste you could imagine … I have never witnessed such a huge quantity of debris. It was horrific.”

Not that it was his first brush with ocean plastic. That had come three years earlier, when he and his team were exploring seamounts in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Antarctica.

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Scientists across Europe urge EU to end Mediterranean ‘overfishing crisis’

21 September, 2018

Source: Euronews
Author: Alice Cuddy

More than 150 scientists have called on EU leaders to end the “overfishing crisis” in the Mediterranean to prevent the collapse of the region’s fish stocks.

Experts from European countries including Italy, Spain, the UK and France signed a declaration by leading conservation group Oceana, which calls on the EU to reform the fisheries industry in what is considered the world’s most overfished sea.

Continue reading Scientists across Europe urge EU to end Mediterranean ‘overfishing crisis’

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Could A Ban On Fishing In International Waters Become A Reality?

14 September, 2018

Source: NPR
Author: Alistair Bland

The jury is in on marine reserves: They work. Research has repeatedly shown that fish numbers quickly climb following well-enforced fishing bans, creating tangible benefits for fishers who work the surrounding waters. In fact, many experts believe fishing will only be sustainable if marine reserves are expanded significantly.

That’s why some activists and scientists are now discussing the idea of creating a marine reserve so big it would cover most of the ocean. Specifically, they want fishing banned in international waters.

Continue reading Could A Ban On Fishing In International Waters Become A Reality?

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Closing the High Seas to Fishing Probably Won’t Hurt Global Food Security

10 September, 2018

Source: Hakai Magazine
Author: Marcus Woo

Recent research suggests fisheries closures would have minimal effect on global food security, but some scientists think the case isn’t so clear cut.

Far offshore are the high seas—waters beyond any country’s jurisdiction and the focus of a contentious debate. The high seas, which cover nearly two-thirds of the ocean’s surface, have recently seen an increase in fishing and other activities, such as deep-sea mining. To protect the biodiversity of this vast environment, delegates attending a meeting currently underway in New York are negotiating for a new international treaty, an addition to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Continue reading Closing the High Seas to Fishing Probably Won’t Hurt Global Food Security

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Deep Sea Conservation Coalition congratulates Claire Nouvian for winning the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work to ban deep-sea trawling

23 April, 2018

The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) congratulates Claire Nouvian, founder of BLOOM Association, a member organization of the DSCC, for winning the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work on a new European Union deep-sea fishing regulation. The regulation bans bottom trawling below 800 metres in EU waters and contains a variety of additional measures to protect deep-sea ecosystems such as cold-water coral reefs, deep water sponge fields and other so-called vulnerable marine ecosystems found extensively in EU waters from the harmful effects of fishing.

Continue reading Deep Sea Conservation Coalition congratulates Claire Nouvian for winning the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work to ban deep-sea trawling

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Race to the Bottom: Impact of Deep-Sea Fishing Severely Underestimated

16 April, 2018

Source: Oceans Deeply 
Author: Alastair Bland

BY DRAGGING HEAVY nets across the seafloor, bottom trawling has long been regarded as among the most indiscriminate and destructive of fishing methods. Now new research shows that fishery managers may have grossly underestimated the global impacts of trawling for decades.

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Protecting cold water corals that support an array of wildlife off our coasts

14 April, 2018

Source: The Irish Times
Author: Michael Viney

Lophelia pertusa has nothing to with Hamlet’s damsel in the river and is not, for that matter, even Latin. I was once dropped from a “bright” stream in school for my apparent lack of effort with that language, a lacuna (there you are) now sometimes regretted.

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Chile bans bottom sea trawling in 98% of its EEZ to protect marine environment

18 December, 2017

Source: MercoPress

Chile’s Under secretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture, SUBPESCA, and Oceana Chile jointly announced the freezing of the fishing footprint for the common hake and demersal crustacean fisheries. This means that 98% of Chile’s exclusive economic zone, EEZ, will be protected from bottom trawling.

Continue reading Chile bans bottom sea trawling in 98% of its EEZ to protect marine environment

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