Bottom trawling

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The Celtic Explorer, a research vessel engaged in bottom trawling RV Celtic Explorer, Galway Bay, Ireland.jpg
The Celtic Explorer , a research vessel engaged in bottom trawling

Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and demersal trawling. Benthic trawling is towing a net at the very bottom of the ocean and demersal trawling is towing a net just above the benthic zone. Bottom trawling can be contrasted with midwater trawling (also known as pelagic trawling), where a net is towed higher in the water column. Midwater trawling catches pelagic fish such as anchovies and mackerel, whereas bottom trawling targets both bottom-living fish (groundfish) and semi-pelagic species such as cod, squid, shrimp, and rockfish.

Contents

Trawling is done by a trawler, which can be a small open boat with only 30 hp (22 kW) or a large factory trawler with 10,000 hp (7,500 kW). Bottom trawling can be carried out by one trawler or by two trawlers fishing cooperatively (pair trawling).

Global catch from bottom trawling has been estimated at over 30 million tonnes per year, an amount larger than any other fishing method. [1] Concerns about the environmental impacts of bottom trawling have led to changes in gear design, such as the addition of turtle excluder devices to reduce bycatch, and limitations on locations where bottom trawling is allowed, such as marine protected areas. [2] A 2021 paper estimated that bottom trawling contributed between 600 and 1500 million tons of carbon dioxide a year by disturbing carbon dioxide in the sea floor – emissions approximately equivalent to those of Germany, or the aviation industry. [3] [4] [5] However, these values are highly uncertain and have been criticized as overestimates. [6] [7] International attempts to limit bottom trawling have been ineffective.

History

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Viveiro

An early reference to fishery conservation measures comes from a complaint about a form of trawling dating from the 14th century, during the reign of Edward III. [8] A petition was presented to Parliament in 1376 calling for the prohibition of a "subtlety contrived instrument called the wondyrchoum". This was an early beam trawl with a wooden beam, and consisted of a net 6 m (18 ft) long and 3 m (10 ft) wide,

of so small a mesh, no manner of fish, however small, entering within it can pass out and is compelled to remain therein and be taken...by means of which instrument the fishermen aforesaid take so great abundance of small fish aforesaid, that they know not what to do with them, but feed and fatten the pigs with them, to the great damage of the whole commons of the kingdom, and the destruction of the fisheries in like places, for which they pray remedy. [9] [10]

Another source describes the wondyrchoum as:

three fathom long and ten men's feet wide, and that it had a beam ten feet long, at the end of which were two frames formed like a colerake, that a leaded rope weighted with a great many stones was fixed on the lower part of the net between the two frames, and that another rope was fixed with nails on the upper part of the beam, so that the fish entering the space between the beam and the lower net were caught. The net had maskes of the length and breadth of two men's thumbs [11]

The response from the Crown was to "let Commission be made by qualified persons to inquire and certify on the truth of this allegation, and thereon let right be done in the Court of Chancery". Thus, already back in the Middle Ages, basic arguments about three of the most sensitive current issues surrounding trawling - the effect of trawling on the wider environment, the use of small mesh size, and of industrial fishing for animal feed - were already being raised.

Until the late 18th century sailing vessels were only capable of towing small trawls. However, in the closing years of that century a type of vessel emerged that was capable of towing a large trawl, in deeper waters. The development of this type of craft, the sailing trawler, is credited to the fishermen of Brixham in Devon. The new method proved to be far more efficient than traditional long-lining. At first its use was confined to the western half of the English Channel, but as the Brixham men extended their range to the North Sea and Irish Sea it became the norm there too.

By the end of the 19th century there were more than 3,000 sailing trawlers in commission in UK waters and the practice had spread to neighbouring European countries. Despite the availability of steam, trawling under sail continued to be economically efficient, and sailing trawlers continued to be built until the middle of the 1920s. Some were still operating in UK waters until the outbreak of World War II, and in Scandinavia and the Faroe Islands until the 1950s.

English commissions in the 19th century determined that there should be no limitation on trawling. They believed that bottom trawling, like tilling of land, actually increased production. As evidence, they noted that a second trawler would often follow a first trawler, and that the second trawler would often harvest even more fish than the first. The reason for this peculiarity is that the destruction caused by the first trawl resulted in many dead and dying organisms, which temporarily attracted a large number of additional species to feed on this moribund mass.

Bottom trawling does not only have a long tradition in European waters. It was also recognized in 1704 during the Edo era in Japan as a common fishing method. A slightly different approach was developed where the "Utase Ami" or "trawled bottom net" was deployed from a sideways sailing boat. [12]

Bottom trawling has been widely implicated in the population collapse of a variety of fish species, locally and worldwide, including orange roughy, barndoor skate, shark, and many others. [13]

Fishing gear

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The design requirements of a bottom trawl are relatively simple, a mechanism for keeping the mouth of the net open in horizontal and vertical dimensions, a "body" of net which guides fish inwards, and a "cod-end" of a suitable mesh size, where the fish are collected. The size and design of net used is determined by the species being targeted, the engine power and design of the fishing vessel and locally enforced regulations.

Beam trawling

The simplest method of bottom trawling, the mouth of the net is held open by a solid metal beam, attached to two "shoes", which are solid metal plates, welded to the ends of the beam, which slide over and disturb the seabed. This method is mainly used on smaller vessels, fishing for flatfish or prawns, relatively close inshore.

Otter trawling

Otter trawl FMIB 36645 Otter trawl.jpeg
Otter trawl

Otter trawling derives its name from the large rectangular otter boards which are used to keep the mouth of the trawl net open. Otter boards are made of timber or steel and are positioned in such a way that the hydrodynamic forces, acting on them when the net is towed along the seabed, push them outwards and prevent the mouth of the net from closing. They also act like a plough, digging up to 15 centimetres (6 in) into the seabed, creating a turbid cloud, and scaring fish towards the net mouth.

The net is held open vertically on an otter trawl by floats and/or kites attached to the "headline" (the rope which runs along the upper mouth of the net), and weighted "bobbins" attached to the "foot rope" (the rope which runs along the lower mouth of the net). These bobbins vary in their design depending on the roughness of the sea bed which is being fished, varying from small rubber discs for very smooth, sandy ground, to large metal balls, up to 0.5 metres (1.6 ft) in diameter, for very rough ground. These bobbins can also be designed to lift the net off the seabed when they hit an obstacle. These are known as "rock-hopper" gear.

Body of the trawl

Pelagic (midwater) otter trawl. 1: trawl warp, 2: otter boards, 3: longline chains, 4 hunter, 5: weights 6: headline with floats, 7: pre-net, 8: tunnel and belly, 9: codend Pelagisches Schleppnetz.jpg
Pelagic (midwater) otter trawl. 1: trawl warp, 2: otter boards, 3: longline chains, 4 hunter, 5: weights 6: headline with floats, 7: pre-net, 8: tunnel and belly, 9: codend

The body of the trawl is funnel-like, wide at its "mouth" and narrowing towards the cod end, and usually is fitted with wings of netting on both sides of the mouth. It is long enough to assure adequate flow of water and prevent fish from escaping the net, after having been caught. It is made of diamond-meshed netting, the size of the meshes decreasing from the front of the net towards the codend. Into the body, fish and turtle escape devices can be fitted. These can be simple structures like "square mesh panels", which are easier for smaller fish to pass through, or more complicated devices, such as bycatch grills.

Cod end

The cod end is the trailing end of the net where fish are finally "caught". The size of mesh in the cod end is a determinant of the size of fish which the net catches. Consequently, regulation of mesh size is a common way of managing mortality of juvenile fishes in trawl nets.

Environmental damage

Short clip of a bottom trawl of a lake and the large amounts of debris produced

Trawling gear produces acute impacts on biota and the physical substratum of the seafloor by disrupting the sediment column structure, overturning boulders, re-suspending sediments and imprinting deep scars on muddy bottoms. [14] Also, the repetitive passage of trawling gear over the same areas creates long-lasting, cumulative impacts that modify the cohesiveness and texture of sediments. It can be asserted nowadays that due to its recurrence, mobility and wide geographical extent, industrial trawling has become a major force driving seafloor change and affecting not only its physical integrity on short spatial scales but also imprinting measurable modifications to the geomorphology of entire continental margins. [15]

Bottom fishing has operated for over a century on heavily fished grounds such as the North Sea and Grand Banks. While overfishing has long been recognised as causing major ecological changes to the fish community on the Grand Banks, concern has been raised more recently about the damage which benthic trawling inflicts upon seabed communities. [16] A species of particular concern is the slow growing, deep water coral Lophelia pertusa . This species is home to a diverse community of deep sea organisms, but is easily damaged by fishing gear. On 17 November 2004, the United Nations General Assembly urged nations to consider temporary bans on high seas bottom trawling. [17] A global analysis of the impacts of bottom trawling found that the impact on seabed biota was strongly dependent on the type of gear used, with otter trawls estimated as having the smallest impact and removing 6% of biota per pass while hydraulic dredges had the largest impact and removed 41% of biota per pass. [18] Other research found trawled canyon sediments contained 52 percent less organic matter than the undisturbed seafloor. There were 80 percent fewer sea worms in the trawled region and only half as much diversity of species in the trawled seafloor. [19]

Satellite image of trawler mud trails off the Louisiana coast Louisiana trawling landsat cropped.jpg
Satellite image of trawler mud trails off the Louisiana coast

Resuspension and biogeochemistry

Bottom trawling stirs up the sediment at the bottom of the sea. The suspended solid plumes can drift with the current for tens of kilometres from the source of the trawling, increasing sedimentation rates in deep environments [20] Bottom trawling-induced resuspended sediment mass on the world's continental shelves has been estimated at 22 gigatonnes per year, approximately the same as the sediment mass supplied to the continental shelves through the world's rivers. [21] These plumes introduce a turbidity which decreases light levels at the bottom and can affect kelp reproduction.[ citation needed ]

Bottom trawling can both resuspend and bury biologically recyclable organic material, changing the flow of nutrients and carbon through the food web and thereby alter geomorphological landscapes. [15] Ocean sediments are the sink for many persistent organic pollutants, usually lipophilic pollutants like DDT, PCB and PAH.[ citation needed ] Bottom trawling mixes these pollutants into the plankton ecology where they can move back up the food chain and into our food supply. [22]

Phosphorus is often found in high concentration in soft shallow sediments. [23] Resuspending nutrient solids like these can introduce oxygen demand into the water column, and result in oxygen deficient dead zones. [24] Even in areas where the bottom sediments are ancient, bottom trawling, by reintroducing the sediment into the water column, can create harmful algae blooms. [25] [26] More suspended solids are introduced into the oceans from bottom trawling than any other man-made source. [27]

Multiple large-scale reviews on bottom trawling have noted that there is a great need for further studies that properly examine the effects of nutrient and toxin remobilization as well as carbon cycling, [28] [29] in order to better estimate greenhouse gas emissions and hence the impact on climate change. [30]

Deep sea damage

(A) The coral community and seabed on an untrawled seamount. (B) The exposed bedrock of a trawled seamount. Both are 1,000-2,000 metres (3,300-6,600 ft) below the surface. Results of trawling.png
(A) The coral community and seabed on an untrawled seamount. (B) The exposed bedrock of a trawled seamount. Both are 1,000–2,000 metres (3,300–6,600 ft) below the surface.

The Secretary General of the United Nations reported in 2006 that 95 percent of damage to seamount ecosystems worldwide is caused by deep sea bottom trawling. [31] [32] A study published in Current Biology suggests a cutoff of 600 metres (2,000 ft) is a point which ecological damage increases significantly. [33]

Carbon release

An estimated 370 million tonnes a year of carbon dioxide stored in seafloor sediment is released by bottom-trawling fishing. [34] Most carbon released into the sea enters the atmosphere within a decade. [35] Banning bottom trawling in marine protected areas has been suggested. [36]

Current restrictions

Today, some countries regulate bottom trawling within their jurisdictions: [37]

Lack of regulation

Beyond national jurisdictions, most bottom trawling is unregulated either because there is no Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO) with competence to regulate, or else what RFMOs that do exist have not actually regulated. The major exception to this is in the Antarctic region, where the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources regime has instituted extensive bottom trawling restrictions. [48]

The North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) also recently closed four seamounts and part of the mid-Atlantic Ridge from all fishing, including bottom trawling, for three years. This still leaves most of international waters completely without bottom trawl regulation.

As of May 2007 the area managed under the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) has gained a new level of protection. All countries fishing in the region (accounting for about 25 percent of the global ocean) agreed to exclude bottom trawling on high seas areas where vulnerable ecosystems are likely or known to occur until a specific impact assessment is undertaken and precautionary measures have been implemented. Observers will also be required on all high seas bottom trawlers to ensure enforcement of the regulations.

Failed United Nations ban

Palau President Tommy Remengesau has called for a ban on destructive and unregulated bottom trawling beyond national jurisdictions. Palau has led the effort at the United Nations and in the Pacific to achieve a consensus by countries to take this action at an international level. [49] [50] Palau has been joined by the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Tuvalu in supporting an interim bottom trawling ban at the United Nations. [51] The proposal for this ban did not result in any actual legislation and was blocked. [52]

In 2006, New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton promised to support a global ban on bottom trawling if there was sufficient support to make that a practical option. Bottom trawling has been banned in a third of New Zealand's waters (although a large percentage of these areas were not viable for bottom trawling in the first place) [40]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trawling</span> Method of catching fish

Trawling is an industrial method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net, that is heavily weighted to keep it on the seafloor, through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different species of fishes or sometimes targeted species. Trawls are often called towed gear or dragged gear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bycatch</span> Fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally

Bycatch, in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juveniles of the target species. The term "bycatch" is also sometimes used for untargeted catch in other forms of animal harvesting or collecting. Non-marine species that are caught but regarded as generally "undesirable" are referred to as rough fish or coarse fish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing trawler</span> Commercial vessel designed to operate fishing trawls

A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets that are pulled along the bottom of the sea or in midwater at a specified depth. A trawler may also operate two or more trawl nets simultaneously.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seabed</span> The bottom of the ocean

The seabed is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unsustainable fishing methods</span> Fishing methods with expected lowering of fish population

Unsustainable fishing methods refers to the utilization of the various fishing methods in order to capture or harvest fish at a rate which sees the declining of fish populations over time. These methods are observed to facilitate the destructive fishing practices that destroy ecosystems within the ocean, and more readily results in overfishing, the depletion of fish populations at a rate that cannot be sustained.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing vessel</span> Boat or ship used to catch fish

A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental impact of fishing</span>

The environmental impact of fishing includes issues such as the availability of fish, overfishing, fisheries, and fisheries management; as well as the impact of industrial fishing on other elements of the environment, such as bycatch. These issues are part of marine conservation, and are addressed in fisheries science programs. According to a 2019 FAO report, global production of fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic animals has continued to grow and reached 172.6 million tonnes in 2017, with an increase of 4.1 percent compared with 2016. There is a growing gap between the supply of fish and demand, due in part to world population growth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing techniques</span> Methods for catching sea creatures, especially fish

Fishing techniques are methods for catching fish. The term may also be applied to methods for catching other aquatic animals such as molluscs and edible marine invertebrates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sponge reef</span>

Sponge reefs are reefs produced by sea sponges. All modern sponge reefs are formed by hexactinellid sponges, which have an endoskeleton made of silica spicules and are often referred to as "glass sponges", while historically the non-spiculed, calcite-skeletoned archaeocyathid and stromatoporoid sponges were the primariy reef-builders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deep-water coral</span> Marine invertebrates

The habitat of deep-water corals, also known as cold-water corals, extends to deeper, darker parts of the oceans than tropical corals, ranging from near the surface to the abyss, beyond 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) where water temperatures may be as cold as 4 °C (39 °F). Deep-water corals belong to the Phylum Cnidaria and are most often stony corals, but also include black and thorny corals and soft corals including the Gorgonians. Like tropical corals, they provide habitat to other species, but deep-water corals do not require zooxanthellae to survive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing dredge</span>

A fishing dredge, also known as a scallop dredge or oyster dredge, is a kind of dredge which is towed along the bottom of the sea by a fishing boat in order to collect a targeted edible bottom-dwelling species. The gear is used to fish for scallops, oysters and other species of clams, crabs, and sea cucumber. The dredge is then winched up into the boat and emptied. Dredges are also used in connection with the work of the naturalist in marine biology, notably on the Challenger Expedition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing in the North Sea</span>

Fishing in the North Sea is concentrated in the southern part of the coastal waters. The main method of fishing is trawling.

This is a glossary of terms used in fisheries, fisheries management and fisheries science.

Destructive fishing practices are fishing practices which easily result in irreversible damage to habitats and the sustainability of the fishery ecosystems. Such damages can be caused by direct physical destruction of the underwater landform and vegetation, overfishing indiscriminate killing/maiming of aquatic life, disruption of vital reproductive cycles, and lingering water pollution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry in New Zealand</span>

As with other countries, New Zealand's 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone gives its fishing industry special fishing rights. It covers 4.1 million square kilometres. This is the sixth largest zone in the world, and is fourteen times the land area of New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry in the United States</span>

As with other countries, the 200 nautical miles (370 km) exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the coast of the United States gives its fishing industry special fishing rights. It covers 11.4 million square kilometres, which is the second largest zone in the world, exceeding the land area of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotspot Ecosystem Research and Man's Impact On European Seas</span> International multidisciplinary project that studies deep-sea ecosystems

Hotspot Ecosystem Research and Man's Impact On European Seas (HERMIONE) is an international multidisciplinary project, started in April 2009, that studies deep-sea ecosystems. HERMIONE scientists study the distribution of hotspot ecosystems, how they function and how they interconnect, partially in the context of how these ecosystems are being affected by climate change and impacted by humans through overfishing, resource extraction, seabed installations and pollution. Major aims of the project are to understand how humans are affecting the deep-sea environment and to provide policy makers with accurate scientific information, enabling effective management strategies to protect deep sea ecosystems. The HERMIONE project is funded by the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme, and is the successor to the HERMES project, which concluded in March 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community of Arran Seabed Trust</span>

The Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST) is a registered Scottish charity based on the Isle of Arran, the largest island in the Firth of Clyde. Established in 1995 by two local divers (Howard Wood and Don McNeish) COAST has been a registered charity since 2011 and is run mostly by Arran residents, who all share the same aims to protect the health of the marine environment around the Isle of Arran and within the Firth of Clyde from indiscriminate commercial fishing methods. COAST values the marine biodiversity around the shoreline of Arran and aims to regenerate and protect it for future generations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electric pulse fishing</span> Fishing technique

Electric pulse fishing is a fishing technique sometimes used in trawl fisheries which produces a limited electric field above the seabed to catch fish. The pulse trawl gear consists of a number of electrodes, attached to the gear in the tow direction, that emit short electric pulses. The electrodes replace the tickler chains that are used in traditional beam trawl fishery. The pulse trawl fishery is mainly aimed at flatfish like sole, with by-catch plaice. In addition, the pulse trawl gear is applied in shrimp fisheries on a limited scale. Technically, the use of electricity to catch fish is prohibited in European waters. However, the European Union is able to provide exemptions to this rule since 2007. These exemptions are now mainly used by Dutch and British trawlers in the North Sea.

The South African Deep-Sea Trawling Industry Association (SADSTIA) represents the trawler owners and operators active in the offshore demersal trawl fishery for hake, the most valuable of South Africa's commercial fisheries, contributing approximately 45 percent of the value of fishery production. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, SADSTIA currently has 32 members that catch, process and market the Cape hakes, Merluccius paradoxus and Merluccius capensis as well as several bycatch species.

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Further reading