Trawlers Threaten To kill Off Fish Species

November 19, 2006

Release from: Ian Herbert
Independent Online (South Africa)

London - Species of fish and the ecosystems that sustain them are being destroyed by deep-sea trawling, a new report warns.

Fish species, some new to science, are being "decimated", according to the report by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

Many species, including the orange roughy - a brick-red fish famed for its longevity - the large-eyed al-fonsino and the roundnose grenadier, part of a family which makes up 15 percent of the deep-sea fish population, are at the mercy of deep-sea trawlers because they exist outside areas covered by legally binding international agreements.

The ZSL report provides one of the strongest pieces of evidence yet on the detrimental effect of trawling on deep-sea corals and seamounts (underwater mountains whose summits do not reach the surface).

The report supplements a recent scientific analysis by the wildlife charity WWF which revealed the dangers to fish species caused by deep-sea trawling and some of its practices - primarily "bottom trawling", by which heavy rollers are dragged over the ocean floor, trapping fish and mammals and destroying entire ecosystems.

The WWF warned that fish stocks in international waters were being plundered to the point of extinction because governments are failing to protect them.

It listed tuna and the orange roughy among those under threat.

The ZSL called for research on where seamounts are located, better studies to assess the impact of trawling and more action from governments to stop unsustainable deep-sea fishing.