Bottom Trawling Impacts and Marine Welfare

Bottom trawling destroys seabed habitats and kills enormous numbers of non-target marine species, making it one of the most welfare-significant fishing practices in terms of total animal suffering caused.

Key Facts

Bottom trawls cover an estimated 4.9 million square kilometers of seabed daily worldwide
Bycatch from bottom trawling includes corals, sponges, crustaceans, and fish that die during the tow
Trawling on sensitive habitats like cold-water coral reefs destroys centuries of structural complexity in minutes
The EU reduced access of trawlers to shallow coastal waters in 2023, though implementation is uneven
Each trawl haul crushes, suffocates, or lacerates animals across vast areas of seabed

Welfare Considerations

Bottom trawling is the fishing method with arguably the greatest per-unit welfare impact because it is indiscriminate: every animal on the seabed in the path of the net is killed or injured, not just the target species. Bycatch animals die through crushing, asphyxiation, barotrauma from pressure changes, and injury from the gear. The welfare harm is compounded by scale — the area swept by bottom trawls daily is comparable to the area of Brazil cleared of forest each year, making it a global welfare catastrophe for marine invertebrates and fish. Marine protected areas that exclude trawling, transition to less destructive fishing methods, and consumer pressure on retailers are the key leverage points for reform.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood from fisheries certified as using non-trawl methods such as line-caught or trap-caught
Advocate for expansion of marine protected areas that prohibit bottom trawling
Support legislation restricting trawling in shallow coastal and sensitive habitat areas
Engage with seafood retailers about their sourcing policies and preference for non-trawl methods
Learn about the welfare and ecological impacts of bottom trawling and share this knowledge