Source: PhysOrg
Author: Sea Around Us
A new study using the Sea Around Us‘ reconstructed catch data reveals that in the past 60+ years, the practice of towing giant fishing nets along the sea floor has caused the extraction of 25 million tonnes of fish that live 400 metres or more below sea level leading to the collapse of many of those fish populations.
Continue reading Bottom trawling causes deep-sea fish populations collapse
Source: Mongabay
Author: Rebecca Kessler
Marine biologists have been raising concerns about bottom trawling for years. The fishing technique involves a boat dragging a weighted net along the seafloor, scooping up whatever marine life swims or sits in its way. In their pursuit of commercially valuable seafood, not only do bottom trawlers unintentionally kill or injure non-targeted creatures as bycatch, they can disrupt the marine habitat itself and kick up sediment plumes that smother nearby organisms.
Continue reading ‘Annihilation trawling’: Q&A with marine biologist Amanda Vincent
The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition today slammed a decision by the London-based Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to certify the New Zealand deep-water bottom trawl fishery for orange roughy as “sustainable” and “well managed”. MSC describes its certified fish as “responsibly caught”.
Continue reading Marine Stewardship Council Certifies Destructive Deep Sea Fishery
MSC Certification hearing to decide future of deep sea orange roughy caught through damaging deep sea bottom trawling
On Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th October, at the offices of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in London, the future of vulnerable corals in the South Pacific ocean and the deep dwelling, slow growing orange roughy will be decided.
Continue reading Bottom-Trawled Fish Could Be Labelled For ‘Sustainable’ Consumption
Source: Huffington Post
Author: Dr Lisa Levin
Many of us know that most of planet Earth is covered with ocean — about 70 percent. We probably should have been named planet Ocean. But how many know that most of our planet is covered with deep ocean? That ocean waters deeper than 200 meters (656 feet) cover about two-thirds of the surface of the planet and more than 95 percent of the habitable volume? Most of this vast area is unexplored. We know less about the bottom of the ocean than we do about the surface of the moon, and as a result, most of the biological species in the ocean remain undiscovered.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has published the first comprehensive assessment of the state of health of fish in European Seas and concluded that two of the three deepwater fish species mainly targeted by French industrial bottom trawlers in UK waters, off Scotland, are threatened with extinction.
Minister Janis Duklavs welcomes Sea Rose to support progress on new EU deep-sea regulation
May 19, 2015 – Representatives of Pasaules Dabas Fonds, with Sea Rose – a model deep-sea roundnose grenadier fish – met today with Minister Janis Duklavs, to call on him to continue the progress Latvia is making shepherding the negotiation of a new EU regulation to manage deep-sea fishing and protect vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems.
The European Union has one of the largest deep-sea fishing fleets in the world and some of the most impacted deep-sea stocks.
Continue reading Sea Rose visits Latvia to bring awareness to destructive deep-sea fishing
Today MPs from across party divides have joined with leading UK marine scientists and NGOs to call on the government to take a leading role in EU negotiations to ensure sustainable deep-sea fisheries, the phasing out of the most destructive methods, bottom trawling and gillnetting, and minimise harm to vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems in UK waters.
Continue reading Reforming EU deep-sea fishing regulation: A Net Win for the UK
