UK cannot take back control
of waters from super trawlers
Conservative MPs have urged the Government to ban the huge boats from fishing in Britain s waters
9 January 2021 • 6:00pm
The Margiris has been banned by Australia but the Government has admitted that it cannot similarly ban large EU ships
Credit: Greenpeace United Kingdom/Saf Suleyman
Supertrawlers will be free to plunder Britain s waters after Brexit, government sources have admitted, as they do not have the powers to implement a blanket ban.
Government sources said that they cannot exclude these boats altogether , and can only currently legislate in terms of the type of fishing they do.
Seabed-damaging trawling is still taking place in protected areas, campaigners said
6 January 2021 • 12:01am
A trawler fishes within a marine protected area in the North Sea last year
Credit: Suzanne Plunkett /Greenpeace United Kingdom
Ineffectual EU protection for marine conservation areas must be beefed up post Brexit, campaigners say, as it emerges they are being targeted by trawlers.
The fishing boats operate in all but one offshore marine protected area designed to protect the seabed in UK waters, research has found, as scientists say the practice is damaging a valuable carbon store that could help attain climate goals.
Figures compiled by the Marine Conservation Society show that bottom trawling took place in 98 per cent of offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in UK waters between 2015 and 2018, which have been identified as needing protection due to the ecological importance of their seabeds.