Bottom trawling is causing deforestation on the seabed, campaigners have warned as they push for widespread bans on the fishing method across the UK and Europe.
Several leading ocean organisations have joined forces to demand an end to destructive fishing practices, including bottom trawling, which involves dragging heavy nets across the seabed.
Oceana, Bloom, EarthEcho International, Rise Up, Seas at Risk and the Transform Bottom Trawling Coalition said governments should start by banning damaging practices in marine protected areas (MPAs).
These ocean areas are established to safeguard habitats, species and ecosystems but bottom trawling and other destructive fishing methods are still permitted in MPAs across the UK and Europe.
Of bottom trawling, Claire Nouvian, Bloom founder and general director, said: “It’s deforestation.
“There are marine animal forests down there. We shouldn’t be trawling them.”
Hugo Tagholm, Oceana UK executive director, said MPAs are “truly just paper parks and lines on a map” as bottom trawling continues in the UK.
“This isn’t about emotion, this is about the hard evidence,” he said.
“And the science consistently shows that bottom trawling devastates these marine habitats.
“It of course devastates fish populations, undermines the very purpose of a marine protected area, and has a negative long-term impact on local fishers as well.”
The campaigners’ joint push for trawling bans across Europe coincides with the release of research that outlines the impacts on marine environments as well as the feasibility of a transition away from the practice.
In one study, National Geographic Pristine Seas found that bottom trawling results in a net cost to European society of up to 11 billion euros every year.
It also highlighted how government subsidies help to prop up the industry, especially in France.
Redirecting a fraction of this money would be enough to finance a just transition for affected fishing communities, the paper argued.
It comes as Oceana, Only One, National Geographic Pristine Seas and Together for the Ocean are co-ordinating the Week of Ocean Action initiative, a 200,000-strong public petition and a series of events to build momentum ahead of the SOS Ocean Summit in Paris next week.
By uniting advocacy efforts, the groups hope to strengthen their bid to push for major commitments on marine protection ahead of the landmark UN Ocean Conference taking place in Nice this June.
This will include a co-ordinated citizen action to call on both the UK and EU countries to take steps to ban bottom trawling in MPAs, following in the footsteps of Greece and Sweden which have both committed to doing so.
Alexandra Cousteau, president of Oceans 2050 and senior adviser to Oceana, said: “With the UN Ocean Conference fast approaching, world leaders have an important choice to make: uphold their commitments to protect our ocean or allow the continued destruction of our marine protected areas.
“To me, and everyone that cares about our blue planet, the choice is clear.
“Our leaders in the UK, France and across the rest of Europe must act now to ban bottom trawling in MPAs to help secure a thriving, resilient ocean for future generations.”
