Greenpeace has called for a ban on supertrawlers after the publication of a report that reveals the controversial ships racked up nearly 3,000 hours last year legally fishing in ecologically-sensitive marine environments in UK waters. Supertrawlers, which can be more than 100 metres long, use nets that are up to one mile long to vacuum up hundreds of tonnes of fish each day. A Greenpeace investigation into the vessels published today notes that 25 supertrawlers, none of which are UK-owned, logged the equivalent of 123 consecutive days fishing in 39 different Marine Protected Areas around the country.
Greenpeace said the presence of “destructive” supertrawlers in the ecologically sensitive marine environments “makes a mockery of the word ‘protected'”. Four of the world’s biggest supertrawlers have been in operation in UK MPAs, according to the report.
The report underscores the damage the huge vessels and nets wreak on marine ecosystems and species, pointing to the fact that more than 1,100 porpoises died in fishing nets in 2019 in the Southern North Sea alone, an east coast MPA created specifically to protect the species. Other places that saw the most supertrawler activity last year were found off the Shetlands, off the Hebrides, and in Offshore Overfalls, a marine area off the south coast, according to Greenpeace.
Source: Business Green
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