A ban on a “damaging” sort of fishing that drags giant nets alongside the seafloor could possibly be prolonged throughout English waters, the federal government has stated.
The proposal would increase the the prohibition of backside trawling from 18,000km2 to 30,000km2 (round 11,500 sq miles) of the UK’s offshore areas which can be already designated as protected. The plan is topic to a 12-week trade session.
The announcement comes as a UN Ocean Convention begins on Monday in France, and amid warnings from Sir David Attenborough that backside trawling is destroying areas of the seabed and marine life.
Surroundings Secretary Steve Reed stated “with out pressing motion our oceans can be irreversibly destroyed”.
Talking earlier than the summit, Sir David told Prince William he was “appalled” by the fishing technique.
The naturalist’s newest documentary Ocean With David Attenborough confirmed new footage of a backside trawling web bulldozing by means of silt on the seafloor and scooping up species indiscriminately.
Final week, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee renewed calls to ban backside trawling, dredging and mining for aggregates on the seabed in what are often known as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
The extension proposed by the federal government would cowl 41 of the UK’s 178 MPAs, and would defend uncommon marine animals and the fragile seabed they depend on.
It says it has carried out detailed assessments into the harms precipitated to habitats and species.
A 12-week session will run till 1 September and can search the views of the marine and fishing trade.
Ariana Densham, head of oceans at Greenpeace UK, stated the session was “finally a long-overdue completion of a course of began by the earlier authorities”.
The Wildlife Belief stated it hoped the prolonged ban can be put in place “quickly”.
It could be a “win-win for each nature and the local weather,” added the belief’s director of coverage and public affairs, Joan Edwards.
Stress can be constructing for extra nations to ratify the High Seas Treaty on the Ocean Convention in Good.
The treaty was agreed by 193 nations two years in the past to place 30% of the ocean into protected areas.
The treaty won’t come into power till it’s ratified by 60 nations, with the present quantity standing at 28. The UK is amongst these nations that has but to ratify.
