To Trawl or Not to Trawl

Bottom trawling (the act of dragging a net across the sea floor to maximize a catch of fish) might be lucrative in the short term, but in the long term causes massive ecological damage to sea floor habitats and kills organisms. Bottom trawling has been measured to decrease biodiversity by up to 50%. However, while ecologists and environmentalists see this as a greedy way to get more fish, fishers see this as a logical response to bad fisheries management. If fishermen are not given an individual share of the catch, they will strive to get as much fish as they can in the most efficient way-ergo bottom trawling. Fishermen don’t need to be punished, they need to be secured and reformed. In 2005, no-trawl zones were set up along the Western coast of the US. About 3.8 million acres fell into this zone, where only hooks, traps, and other fishing methods were allowed. As a result, the quality of catch increased, sensitive habitats were spared, and the fishermen began working together to try to preserve the fishery instead of working against each other to race for the most fish.