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Current Campaigns and Reports

The call for a ban on bottom trawling is a deeply controversial issue with divergent views. Following is a summary of the views from environmental organisations, Government advisory bodies and industry. For ease of reference where an organisation supports the proposed resolution this has been highlighted. 

Deep Sea Conservation Coalition

The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition is an umbrella coalition of non-government organisations that is urging the UN to declare a global moratorium on deep sea bottom trawling fishing on the high seas as soon as possible. A report by the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition in December 2007 revealed that the majority of fisheries treaty organisations are failing to take urgent actions called for by the UN General Assembly in 2006 to protect deep-sea species and ecosystems. 

Marine Conservation Society


The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) is in the process of developing its position on bottom trawling. This will be available from mid March 2008.  The MCS is not looking at supporting an outright ban on bottom trawling but is likely to take the approach of identifying the areas where bottom trawling has a negative effect on the long term productivity of all marine communities.

MCS has established the ‘Marine Reserves Now’ campaign which is campaigning for a network of vital marine reserves. The campaign is calling on the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to commit to producing a Marine Act in 2008. In September 2007, over 50,000 members of the public voted in support for marine reserves and the MCS is on track to reach its target of 100,000 votes by the end of the campaign in March 2008.

Greenpeace

Greenpeace is calling for an immediate ban of bottom trawling and is urging people to write to Hilary Benn, Secretary of State, to campaign for marine reserves to be established in the North Sea and throughout Europe as a matter of urgency. Globally, Greenpeace is campaigning for a network of reserves covering 40% of the world’s oceans. In January 2008, Greenpeace launched a campaign promoting sustainable fishing, which involves celebrity chefs Tom Aiken and Raymond Blanc encouraging fellow chefs and food writers to use sustainable seafood. Over the past two years Greenpeace has also been targeting supermarkets.

The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution 

The Royal Commission is an independent, standing body established by Royal Warrant, which provides advice on environmental issues to the Queen, the UK Government and Parliament, the devolved administrations, and the public.  A report published by the Royal Commission in 2005 identified that 30% of UK waters should be closed to fishing. Turning the Tide - Addressing the Impact of Fisheries on the Marine Environment - found that fisheries policies have failed and radical change is needed to shift their focus from commercial over-exploitation to long-term protection of the marine environment. Positive steps need to be taken to allow the environment to recover. The report also recommended that the UK government should immediately halt any deep-sea trawling taking place in UK waters or being carried out by UK vessels and that the Government should press the European Commission to ban bottom trawling and other destructive fishing practices.

Over 300 scientists have signed the European Scientists' Consensus Statement on Marine Reserves. 

WWF

WWF believes that human activities in the seas can be managed to ensure that regulated bottom trawling is sustainable and that healthy ecosystems are maintained. This is only possible when fishing is managed within effective, holistic, ecosystem-based management regimes and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is eliminated. It is also vital that fishing states exercise adequate responsibility especially by maintaining and using a genuine link with vessels flying their flag.

WWF believes that the 2006 UNGA Fisheries Resolution provides an excellent policy framework for establishing the governance framework within which acceptable bottom trawling can be conducted and that it is now up to the state and the fisheries for which they are responsible, with the help and support of markets, consumers and other stakeholders, to develop and apply the requisite management measures to give effect to the expectations of the UNGA and the hopes of the wider community.

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) runs the world’s leading certification and eco-label programme for sustainable fishing. Over 7% of the world’s fish catch is either certified sustainable or being assessed against the MSC’s strict environmental standard for sustainable fishing. Several bottom trawl fisheries are already MSC-certified, and you can buy fish products from these fisheries in the UK, marked with the MSC’s blue ‘fish tick’ eco-label.

The MSC believes that, under certain conditions, trawl fisheries can be environmentally responsible and several well-managed bottom trawl fisheries have demonstrated environmental leadership by going through the most rigorous and robust independent assessment available.

The MSC-certified Patagonian scallop fishery in Argentina has been praised for the low impact of its bottom trawl vessels. Other fisheries have also shown that bottom trawling can be managed in a sustainable way. New Zealand hoki, South Africa hake and Alaska pollock fisheries all meet the MSC’s strict environmental standard for sustainable fishing and have introduced controls such as:

  • Using GPS technology to ensure vessels only follow existing trawl paths
  • Utilising net design and technology to direct certain species (e.g. turtles) towards escape vents, while others (targeted fish) are directed to the back of the net
  • Restricting trawl paths to areas where habitats are less sensitive – for example sandy areas with a fast current, where trawls have minimal impact on the seabed
  • Keeping large areas permanently closed to fishing to allow habitats and species to thrive.

These fisheries have shown that bottom trawling can be conducted in a sustainable way, and their leadership is encouraging other fisheries to build sustainability measures into their practices.

The MSC certification process is beginning to make a difference around the world. Several major retailers including ASDA and M&S, have committed to sourcing only MSC fish in the next three to five years and 4,500 stores in the Netherlands (all the members of The Dutch Association of Food Retail) have committed to only selling MSC labelled seafood by 2011. Demand for MSC fish is growing and fisheries are increasingly looking to get certified.

There are now over 1,200 MSC labelled products available in supermarkets worldwide, restaurants and even school canteens in the UK. These products carry the MSC’s logo which means you can be sure that any seafood with the MSC ecolabel is from a sustainable fishery.

The MSC runs the only widely recognised environmental certification and eco-labelling programme for wild capture fisheries. It is the only seafood eco-label that is consistent with the UN Food and Agricultural Organisations guidelines for fisheries certification and the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards. Its programme is based on:

  • Objective, third-party fishery assessment utilising scientific evidence
  • Transparent processes with built-in stakeholder consultation and objection procedures
  • Standards based on the sustainability of target species, ecosystems and management practices.