Bottom trawling is ecologically destructive and should be banned says coalition
mongabay.com
November 14, 2006
Deep sea bottom trawling is threatening marine ecosystems and biodiversity and should be banned said the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, an advocacy group representing more than 60 conservation organizations from around the world.
Apparently the U.N. agrees.
Wednesday the world organization published a summary of a draft report that calls for discussions on a trawling moratorium. Several countries responsible for much of the world's trawling, Spain, Japan and Iceland, have opposed a new moratorium and on November 13th, 2006 European Union, Russia, and South Korea blocked an effort to regulate deep sea fishing and bottom trawling over a large part of the South Pacific.
The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition criticized these countries in a statement.
There is overwhelming scientific evidence that bottom trawling causes terrible damage to the fragile, slow-growing ecosystems of the deep. Photographs taken by fisheries observers onboard New Zealand vessels in 2004 and 2005, released to Greenpeace by New Zealand's Ministry of Fisheries
"The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition has condemned northern fishing nations, the European Community, South Korea, and Russia for blocking measures which would have protected deep-sea life in the South Pacific," stated a release from the group. "Those participants stubbornly opposed attempts by countries negotiating a new regional fisheries management organisation to put in place strong measures, including measures that would have protected vulnerable marine ecosystems from the damage caused by bottom trawl fishing in international waters."
The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition says that deep water coral reefs can live for eight thousand years, while deep-sea fish like orange roughy are slow to reproduce making recovery from over-fishing difficult.
"The scientific community has expressed real concern over the damage to deep sea life from bottom trawl fishing, including the risk of species extinctions," said Duncan Currie, spokesperson for the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition.
This article is based on a news release from the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition.
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