Deep-Sea Trawling: Invisible Welfare Harms

Bottom trawling is one of the most destructive fishing practices, causing suffering to billions of sea creatures and irreversible damage to deep-sea habitats that took centuries to form.

Key Facts

Bottom trawls scrape the ocean floor, destroying coral, sponge, and other structures that provide habitat for deep-sea animals
An estimated 1-3 billion sea creatures are caught as bycatch by bottom trawlers annually, most discarded dead or dying
Deep-sea fish species caught by trawls experience pressure-related injuries as they are hauled rapidly to the surface
Some deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems take hundreds to thousands of years to form and cannot recover on human timescales
Several nations have created trawling exclusion zones to protect particularly vulnerable deep-sea habitats

Welfare Considerations

Deep-sea trawling causes welfare harms that are largely invisible to consumers. Fish caught as bycatch die from physical trauma, pressure change, and suffocation. The destruction of benthic habitats removes shelter, food sources, and breeding grounds for countless species. Because deep-sea ecosystems are poorly mapped and rarely seen, these harms lack the public visibility of more relatable animal welfare issues. Yet in scale and severity, deep-sea trawling is among the most significant welfare concerns in the fishing industry.

What You Can Do

Avoid purchasing seafood from fisheries that use bottom trawling — check certification labels
Support MSC certification reforms to exclude bottom trawled seafood from sustainability standards
Advocate for expansion of deep-sea marine protected areas that exclude trawling
Ask seafood retailers and restaurants about the fishing methods used to catch their products
Support organizations working to protect deep-sea ecosystems from trawling