The British Government has been told to introduce a complete ban on ocean bottom trawling in its waters, as a former environment minister said some companies were treating the seas like a “bottomless pit”.
Labour’s Barry Gardiner said trawlers with nets that stretched more than a mile long “scrape away the existence of all life in its path”.
READ: THE CATCH – OUR INVESTIGATION OF BOTTOM TRAWLING
Mr Gardiner spoke in favour of the government’s Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill, which will enable the UK to ratify the UN treaty of the same name, which was adopted in June 2023.
Halt
It got its second reading in the House of Commons on Thursday. It will now proceed to committee stage for MPs to put forward amendments to it.
The High Seas Treaty aims to protect biodiversity in areas beyond national boundaries and jurisdictions. This includes the high seas and international seabed, which makes up 61 per cent of the ocean’s surface.
It would set up a framework to potentially stop the controversial fishing method internationally. It has been frequently criticised for its environmental impact.
This summer a government consultation examined banning bottom trawling in specified marine protected areas (MPAs) in UK waters. The protected areas would range up to about 30,000km squared.
Yet MPs called for the UK to back an outright ban in its waters, and to work to halt the practice completely worldwide.
Champion
“The huge factory ships that once slaughtered whales are largely gone,” Mr Gardiner said. “But in their place, equally large factory ships now plunder the ocean as if it were a bottomless pit of profit.”
He said the size of some nets would stretch from the Houses of Parliament and encompass the distance up to Buckingham Palace and beyond.
“These fishing enterprises devastate the very populations they are targeting. That is why we need this Bill,” he said.
Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse (Bath) said: “The UK should champion further measures to protect our oceans, including a ban on bottom trawling in marine protected areas.
Protect
“Bottom trawling is a most terrifying practice that damages the seabed, kills animals and plants indiscriminately and releases carbon in a very, very large proportion from the seafoam, driving climate change.”
Chris Hinchliff (North East Hertfordshire) said bottom trawling was the “underseas equivalent of ploughing a bulldozer through a wildflower meadow”.
“Once these species are gone, they’re gone forever, and their entire intricate web of connections goes with them, unravelling irreplaceable ecosystems with profound knock-on effects that we can neither predict nor prevent,” he said.
Foreign Office minister Seema Malhotra said: “The government has outlined plans to restrict damaging fishing activity in marine protected areas, where needed, to protect designated species and habitats.”
Endangered
The Bill would also allow researchers to collaborate with overseas counterparts when they study ocean life. It would add the UK to a list of 75 other countries and territories already part of the agreement.
These genetic resources “may hold the future to key medicines, enzymes and sustainable technologies”, environment minister Emma Hardy said.
Ms Hardy said: “The provisions within the Bill may appear to be narrow and technical, but once implemented, they will enable the UK to participate fully in global efforts to conserve and sustainably use the ocean beyond national jurisdiction.”
Ratifying the treaty will “safeguard fragile ecosystems, protect endangered species and ensure that scientific benefits are shared fairly and responsibly”, she said.
These Authors
Harry Taylor and Will Durrant are members of the PA political staff.
