What can be done about ocean clearcutting and annihilation fishing?
Imagine the hue and cry if helicopters dragged huge nets weighted down by heavy chains across your favourite hillside. Imagine the uproar if those nets removed all animal and plant life in their path and sold them for animal feed. Imagine the rage if such practices were fuelled by government subsidies and by forced or enslaved labour.
This is bottom trawling, an egregious form of fishing that is devastating marine life around the planet. It is high time we ended this annihilation, favouring fisheries that are based on sound ecological, economic and social foundations instead. We can start by establishing and enforcing more trawl exclusion zones, removing subsidies, insisting on fair labour practices, and rejecting trawl expansion.
Earth stories with Professor Bronwyn Hayward
Professor Bronwyn Hayward focuses on the intersection of sustainable development, youth, climate change and citizenship.
Earth stories with Roger Harrabin
Join Professor Joe Smith, the Society’s Director, in conversation with Roger Harrabin, the BBC's Energy and Environment Analyst, to discuss the evolution of climate, biodiversity and sustainability stories in the media.