Bottom Trawling and Seafloor Habitat Destruction

Bottom trawling is one of the most destructive fishing methods, causing massive physical damage to seafloor ecosystems and incidental mortality to vast numbers of non-target animals.

Key Facts

Bottom trawls drag weighted nets across the seabed, crushing or uprooting everything in their path
An estimated 1.8 million square kilometres of seabed are trawled globally every year
Slow-growing deep-sea corals and sponge communities can take centuries to recover from a single trawl pass
Bycatch in bottom trawl fisheries can exceed 90 percent of total catch in some shrimp and prawn fisheries
The European Union voted in 2023 to phase out bottom trawling in marine protected areas by 2030

Welfare Considerations

Bottom trawling causes enormous suffering to an enormous number of sentient animals. Fish and invertebrates caught as bycatch are crushed, suffocated, or subjected to rapid pressure changes as trawl nets are hauled to the surface. Bottom-dwelling fish species, crabs, and other invertebrates experience extended periods of oxygen deprivation before death. The destruction of structural habitat eliminates the shelter and feeding resources of countless animals that are not directly caught but whose welfare is fundamentally compromised by habitat loss. Transition to static gear fisheries would eliminate most of this suffering while maintaining fishing livelihoods.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood certified by schemes that exclude bottom trawl-caught products
Ask restaurants and retailers about the fishing method used for their seafood
Support international agreements to ban bottom trawling in all marine protected areas
Advocate for stronger bycatch reporting requirements and monitoring in trawl fisheries
Donate to organisations working on marine protected area enforcement and sustainable fishing transitions