Bottom trawling is one of the most destructive fishing methods globally, causing massive mortality of non-target species and destruction of complex seafloor habitats that support diverse marine life.
Bottom trawling causes individual welfare harm to billions of animals annually through the indiscriminate capture and mortality of non-target species across entire seafloor communities. The welfare harm is compounded by the ecological destruction of habitat-forming species such as cold-water corals and sponges that support diverse communities. Animals captured as bycatch experience the same processes as target species — net capture, crushing, suffocation, and handling — but without even the economic justification that motivates target fishing. Transitioning fishing effort from bottom trawls to more selective methods, combined with marine protected area expansion, represents the highest-impact policy intervention for reducing this welfare harm.