ETHICAL OR UNETHICAL?
Bottom trawling is a fishing method whereby heavy fishing nets are dragged along the seabed to catch marine species such as cod, haddock, and shrimp. However, these nets also catch everything that is in their path, bulldozing underwater habitats which release carbon from beneath the seabed, contributing to climate change. Since this method aims to catch a small amount of fish species, everything else that bottom trawling may pick up and damage is then thrown away. This is known as ‘discards’ and results in the wastage of animal life and the destruction of habitats. Marine Protected Areas are areas in the ocean that are made to keep animal life legally protected. Unfortunately, bottom trawling still happens in some of these places, and whether a species is being targeted or not, it could be caught in the process then simply thrown away. This needlessly leads to the death of many species. There are massive amounts of carbon held within the seafloor, and bottom trawling picks up dirt, causing the release of carbon into the environment. The process also uses fossil fuels to drag these nets along, worsening the effects of climate change. the release of carbon into the environment
Bottom trawling causes
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