Rough fishing damages sea floor habitat

[Karl]

23-04-2008

(Read Full Article: Rough fishing damages sea floor)

Bottom trawling damages life on the sea floor and should therefore be banned. This is the opinion of many scientists and environmentalists who add that bottom trawling is, in addition, one of the most energy intensive forms of fishing that exists. The threat to the marine environment and the need for protective measures are the focus of the latest edition of the newsletter Nordmiljö, published by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

"The recurring question is whether bottom trawling and other fishing tackle which destroy the sea floor should be allowed or forbidden," states scientist Jan Helge Fosså in the fourth issue of Nordmiljö.

Fosså, who is a scientist at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, underlines that more research is needed, both in the Nordic countries but also internationally, to find methods which spare the marine environment and sea floor as much as possible.

This is of particular importance in the Nordic countries since the presence of cold water coral in the Nordic marine areas is amongst the greatest in the world. The latest issue of Nordmiljö also covers the need for marine areal planning and also takes a look at midwater trawling, a more environmentally friendly alternative to bottom trawling.