On Friday, more than 20 nations agreed to discourage unregulated and destructive bottom trawling on the South Pacific high seas. The agreement takes affect September 30 and is intended to protect about a quarter of the world's high seas. Trawl fishing vessels drag huge nets armed with steel plates and heavy rollers across the seabed, plowing up and pulverizing everything in their path. These nets bring up not only fish, but thousands of tons of coral and other species that aren't wanted by the fishermen. Coral is often thrown back, either dead or dying.
These underwater bulldozers could be compared to clear-cutting a rainforest. This agreement reached in Renaca, Chile on Friday was affected by the years-long campaigning by environmental groups who have sought to end bottom trawling and its destructive results. The area affected stretches from the Equator to the Antarctic Circle and from Australia and New Zealand to the west cost of South America.
Is this a big victory, a small victory, a veiled victory, or something in between? Not being educated enough on the history of this subject, I can't make that judgment yet. But this is a step in a good direction. Big thanks should go to the Pew Charitable Trust and their environment division for coordinating the campaign against these trawlers.
Comments