Just spotted this short article about an upcoming documentary. What a wasteful fishery! https://petapixel.com/2025/05/12/dr...impact-of-bottom-trawling-on-the-ocean-floor/
Bottom trawling is sickening!
- Thread starter Kinetic
- Start date
trophywife
Crew Member
sounds like an industry greenwasher with a side of deflection.
dragging should not happen. go dockside and take a look at the by-catch that is till stuck in the nets that they leave out so the birds can clean up what they didnt just toss over. juvenile everything, rat fish, hali, sharks, flounder, etc etc. this industry should NOT exist.
I'm sure I have more experience than you with this. Educate yourself and look at your own by catch. Trawlers have done a lot to clean up over the years. Could more be done... yes, for sure. It really depends on the bottom structure. Protecting sensitive structure has been in place and is probably the way to go ........ have you ever been on a trawler ?? ....... many species can not be caught any other way. Do it smartly and restrict where necessary...... don't just call for total closures ....unless you are an ENGO green washer.
trophywife
Crew Member
i am sure you do!! my own by catch? the ones i gaff release and swim away? yes , i have been on a working dragger and it is a shame.
this type of fishery should not exist. non -selective wanton waste.
this type of fishery should not exist. non -selective wanton waste.
Exactly, HG - and bycatch - which is depth/season dependent.
The ENGOs (that usually live in big, urban cities & the EU) would like everyone to believe that fishing and fisheries management is the same the World over; and they really don't know fishing.
In Canada, there are big offshore "draggers" that generally fish groundfish (esp. hake & rockfish), but can also fish midwater. Bigger fleet out East than BC. Their markets for BC product have generally been Asia, and they generally fish deep and offshore. They have big, heavy nets but have cleaned-up their fishery over the past 10-20 years, esp. wrt hitting deepwater corals which have their own allotted bycatch amounts. They likely have the largest impact of all the trawl fisheries/boats (esp. with both bycatch & bottom impacts), and will be shut out of the impending NSB MPA on the North & Central Coasts.
Then there is the scallop boats (East Coast only), and the shrimp trawl fleet.
The shrimp trawl fleet has been shrunk to a shadow of what it was 20+years ago (like many fisheries) where maybe only about a dozen to 2 dozen boats still fish on a regular basis, and they operate on mostly mud/sand. So, no to little habitat impacts wrt mud.
There are 2 gear types in this fleet ~2/3 boats are "beam boats" and ~1/3 are "door boats". The door boats have to go faster than the beam boats to keep the water pressure pushing the mouth of the net apart. The beam boats instead use a long metal pole and can noodle along at ~1.7-1.9 kts. That means that most fish can escape the slow net - and largely the diseased pelagic fishes get caught and a few small flounder that didn't veer left nor right. Kinda cleans up the stock/population wrt parasites (e.g. Haemobaphes diceraus).
Lights can also aid in fish seeing the nets coming & give them a chance to get out of the way- but I think DFO doesn't let them do that - last I heard.
Sharphooks
Well-Known Member
I don’t have a huge dog in this fight but i confess, I was in the trawl industry for 15 years and based on my observations, Hardy Guy is correct. The trawl guys have indeed cleaned up their act over the last decade or so, mainly because they’ve been forced to. Believe it or not, trawler behavior is way better today then it was yesterday.
No doubt, bottom trawling is disruptive to the ecosystem and can at times be indiscriminate with its by-catch. I was more involved in mid-water trawling for pollock and I’ve spent 100’s of hours on mid-water trawlers as a biologist itemizing what came up in the cod-ends and I can say that from my own experiences, it is a relatively clean species-specific fishery.
I’m not a trawler apologist here—-no doubt long-lining is more species-specific and less impactful on benthic terrain but despite the longline guys always pounding their chests and insisting their shiat doesn’t stink like trawlers shiat does, I’ve seen thousand’s of meters of longline gear lost on boats I was fishing on and have hooked many more thousands of meters of longline gear off the bottom that the Japanese longline boats lost 50 years ago —- bottom line—-we all impact the ecosystem as resource extractors for better or for worse. Nobody’s shiat doesn’t stink
I flip out when I see rec fishermen net fish that are going to be released rather than shaking them with a gaff while the fish are still in the water. But meanwhile, even with a proper descending device for rockfish, I know I’ver left behind a trail of blood and easy eagle food with the rockfish I’ve released over the years.
You def have to pick your battles if you’re whacking and stacking
No doubt, bottom trawling is disruptive to the ecosystem and can at times be indiscriminate with its by-catch. I was more involved in mid-water trawling for pollock and I’ve spent 100’s of hours on mid-water trawlers as a biologist itemizing what came up in the cod-ends and I can say that from my own experiences, it is a relatively clean species-specific fishery.
I’m not a trawler apologist here—-no doubt long-lining is more species-specific and less impactful on benthic terrain but despite the longline guys always pounding their chests and insisting their shiat doesn’t stink like trawlers shiat does, I’ve seen thousand’s of meters of longline gear lost on boats I was fishing on and have hooked many more thousands of meters of longline gear off the bottom that the Japanese longline boats lost 50 years ago —- bottom line—-we all impact the ecosystem as resource extractors for better or for worse. Nobody’s shiat doesn’t stink
I flip out when I see rec fishermen net fish that are going to be released rather than shaking them with a gaff while the fish are still in the water. But meanwhile, even with a proper descending device for rockfish, I know I’ver left behind a trail of blood and easy eagle food with the rockfish I’ve released over the years.
You def have to pick your battles if you’re whacking and stacking
Well said.
Comment: ‘One size fits all’ fisheries policy misses the mark on the West Coast
Let’s get one thing straight: this is not the Atlantic. What works for lobster boats on the East Coast does not seamlessly transfer to the Pacific.
www.timescolonist.com
cuttlefish
Well-Known Member
The BC groundfish trawl fishery is one good example of collaboration across diverse groups to arrive at a workable solution to a problem. The following explains the background and the process leading to an agreement.
cases.open.ubc.ca
Canada’s Pacific Groundfish Trawl Fishery: Ecosystem Conflicts | Open Case Studies
The B.C. groundfish trawl fishery came under attack from ENGOs in the mid-2000s for destruction of the aquatic habitat. This case study examines the negotiations and the degree of success of the world’s first habitat bycatch limitation agreement.
I don't think we as rec anglers should pull the anti card and call for other fisheries to be shut down. You reap what you sow. We should work and lobby other fisheries to improve and reduce impacts where necessary. We should all do the best we can do and only in the worst case scenarios should closures happen. .... my thoughts .... I have no commercial interests of any kind...... just a distrust of anti's and engo's.
trophywife
Crew Member
when i have seen the line of floaters and birds following theses working boats it just cant sit right. nor the pier covered in a giant net left out for the birds to pick clean. walk along it and look at all the juvenile sea life caught up in it. This is an improved fishery? i cant be sold on this type of fishing. no chance.
I think - as many posters on here have already posted - one needs to pick ones battles.
I would pick the fleet/gear combinations and depths/seasons/areas that have the most habitat & bycatch impact combinations - as there are there are numerous subtleties/nuances within how these fisheries are prosecuted, monitored & enforced as many have already posted about on this thread. There are examples of much-needed improvements still to offer - as there is also examples & credit for past changes to be acknowledged.
Due to the relentless ENGO emotional posturing & media (which they make money from) - the word "trawling" has come to be synonymous with the worst examples of international fishing - rather than a careful inspection & consideration of the variables that influence habitat & bycatch impacts - which is largely missing in this debate kept alive by various ENGO influences.
I'm pretty much done with blindly dancing to any ENGOs tunes.
I would pick the fleet/gear combinations and depths/seasons/areas that have the most habitat & bycatch impact combinations - as there are there are numerous subtleties/nuances within how these fisheries are prosecuted, monitored & enforced as many have already posted about on this thread. There are examples of much-needed improvements still to offer - as there is also examples & credit for past changes to be acknowledged.
Due to the relentless ENGO emotional posturing & media (which they make money from) - the word "trawling" has come to be synonymous with the worst examples of international fishing - rather than a careful inspection & consideration of the variables that influence habitat & bycatch impacts - which is largely missing in this debate kept alive by various ENGO influences.
I'm pretty much done with blindly dancing to any ENGOs tunes.
trophywife
Crew Member
dragging is the key word.
i dont need to read or listen to ngo rhetoric to SEE the effects.
i dont need to read or listen to ngo rhetoric to SEE the effects.
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