The ocean has been being destroyed for a while now, through many different factors. However, one of the more troubling is known as Bottom Trawling. It’s a fishing method that has a net pulled throughout the lower layers of the ocean via wires connected to the boat, as well as weights dragged along the ocean floor connected to both the net and the boat. This type of fishing ends up with a lot of bycatch, which is simply fish and other creatures that they were not aiming for. And while that right there is really bad, after all it does leave many fish dead or severely injured, that’s not the main concern. The real issue is that wherever it’s brought, the weights can permanently destroy entire seafloor habitats. Entire fields of coral that’s lived for centuries can be destroyed in a second from these weights, and many types of species rely on coral for various reasons. Bottom Trawling is one of the reasons 90% of the surfaces off the coast of southern Australia are just bare rock now. 

Luckily, the practice has been banned off most of its west and south coasts, along with the area around many island territories the US controls, such as Hawaii. And while it has been limited thanks to this, it can still cause a lot of issues. This petition’s goal is to ban the use of Bottom Trawling that makes contact with the ocean floor all together. Of course this will only affect any fishing impacted by US law, but there’s a chance other countries will follow suit, and perhaps ban other harmful practices of their own. Plus, with one less large-scale net fishing method out of the picture, there will be less bycatch to worry about. Of course, the main issue with this is that some fish species will be harder to catch, including some very popular ones. However, it’s a sacrifice that’s necessary to try and protect the health of our oceans. 

Really, the main point is to make more progress on the task of fixing the ocean. If this petition manages to actually get the practice banned, this could be a good stepping stone to hope. Hope that we’ll be able to help the seven seas recover from everything that we’ve done to it. Dumping oil and mercury, filling it with plastic, global warming causing the temperature and acidity to rise, and much more. The ocean is truly in peril, and we need to fix it.

Sources:

https://wwf.panda.org/our_work/oceans/problems/destructive_fishing/

https://marine-conservation.org/what-we-do/program-areas/how-we-fish/destructive-fishing/

https://www.quora.com/How-is-drag-net-fishing-performed