Save our oceans: End bottom trawling in marine protected areas

You might think that in marine protected areas, fishing with destructive bottom trawling would not be allowed, right?

The practice of scraping all sea life from the bottom of the seabed, wrecking everything in its way and destroying key marine ecosystems is hardly taking place in areas of conservation?

Well then you are in for a surprise: many marine protected areas in Europe are subject to bottom trawling with weak protection. Unbelievable, we know.

But there is hope. 🐟

We, Greens/EFA members in the European Parliament, are very close to banning bottom trawling in marine protected areas.

This Tuesday, for the first time ever the European Parliament will vote on our proposal to end bottom trawling in marine protected areas (MPAs), but it is far from sure that there will be a majority to support the ban. There is very fierce lobbying, claiming that bottom trawling is fine - even in nature protected areas.

👉 Here is how you can help: Use our tool and send an email to the MEPs of your country and tell them why a ban on bottom trawling is the only option. We have written a draft, but you can adapt it to your personal message.

Together we can get this ban across the finish line. Ending bottom trawling in marine protected areas is about protecting oceans, fighting climate change and ensuring the future of fish and fishing communities.

If you would like to read more information, we have answered some frequently asked questions below.

Caroline Roose and Grace O'Sullivan
Greens/EFA members of the European Parliament

Frequently asked questions

(click to expand)

What are the negative impacts of bottom-trawling on the climate, fish populations and marine biodiversity?

There is a consensus among scientists : bottom fishing activities are the fishing operations that have the strongest impacts on the seabed. They can remove up to 41% of invertebrate life, according to a study.

Bottom-trawling is also harmful for fish populations and marine biodiversity as a whole. This is due to a high level of incidental captures of sensitive marine species.

Moreover, bottom-contacting fishing operations are disturbing ecosystems on the seafloor and carbon-rich marine habitats, re-releasing carbon into the water column.

The scientific community is clear: resilient marine habitats are key to mitigate the growing effects of climate change that are exacerbated by overfishing and will severely impact oceans and food security.

What is the European Green Deal ambition to limit the negative impacts of bottom-trawling? What is the importance of this vote in the European Parliament?

The EU Common Fisheries Policy and its accompanying pieces of legislation already contain some requirements to stop overfishing, create and protect marine protected areas, and improve the selectivity of harmful fishing techniques.

Unfortunately, there is a clear lack of implementation of such measures, especially by Member States, and the majority of EU marine protected areas are “paper parks”, with very little or non-existing levels of protection.

To improve the implementation of the existing legislation, and step up its efforts in protecting marine biodiversity, the European Commission presented the EU biodiversity strategy to 2030 which contains ambitious measures, such as limiting the use of fishing gear most harmful to biodiversity, including on the seabed and protecting 30% of EU seas, including 10% of strictly protected areas.

In a few weeks, the European Commission will present its Action Plan on protecting fisheries resources and marine biodiversity, including a detailed roadmap and precise measures on bottom-trawling.

The bad news is that industrial fishing lobbies are trying to dilute the ambition of the EU Biodiversity Strategy. We cannot afford to lose more time in fighting the climate and biodiversity crisis.

This is the first time such a language has been supported by committees of the European Parliament.

We need to act now and there is hope: more than 150,000 Europeans called on the EU to ban bottom-trawling in all marine protected areas.

Which political parties are supportive? Who is opposing?

The Greens, the Left and most of the social democrat Members of the European Parliament clearly stood in favour of such a measure which is key for climate action, protecting marine biodiversity, and ensuring healthy fish populations for the future of the fisheries sector.

However, conservative European political groups are attempting to unite in defending the interests of the industrial fishing industry and slowing down the necessary transition to low-impact fisheries, to the detriment of EU citizens and the future of fishers.

They gave visibility to the lobbies of the bottom-trawling industry in the past weeks and are distorting our argumentation by saying that we want to end bottom-trawling everywhere, now, which is not the reality.

Some socialists and the vast majority of the liberal Members of the European Parliament (Renew group) will also try to dilute the ambition of our proposals (and thus going against the IUCN guidelines and recommendations), instead of maintaining the good report by their own rapporteur (MEP Carvalhais) or improving it.

We need you to tell them that they must listen to EU citizens!

📸 © OCEANA María José Cornax 16226