Times On Line reporting this story @ http://www.timesonli...icle6545630.ece
From The Sunday Times
June 21, 2009
British sea bed 'trawled into a wasteland'
Jonathan Leake, Environment Editor
THOUGH still an island, Britain is now surrounded by desert. New research has shown that repeated trawling has turned much of the sea bed around the UK into a barren wasteland.
Scientists using deep sea photography and painstaking analysis of hundreds of years of fishing records have discovered an underwater terrain, once rich in species such as oysters, that has now largely been denuded of life.
Their study also suggests that Britain’s coastal waters may have turned from sparkling blue towards a dirty greyer colour, partly because of the destruction of shellfish beds.
Centuries of trawler activity have exposed the sea’s muddy bottom, allowing silt and sediment to rise up into the water.
“These changes have taken place over such a long time that humans cannot see them happening,” said Callum Roberts, professor of marine biology at York University. “Fishing, especially trawling, has destroyed sea life and left us surrounded by a marine desert.”
Overfishing has become a global political problem with a recent report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation warning that 28% of the world’s fisheries stocks are at or near collapse.
Earlier this month the actors Greta Scacchi and Colin Firth joined forces with campaigners to publicise The End of the Line, a film highlighting the destruction of bluefin tuna stocks.
Roberts’s research, part of a three-year study, has traced fishing records from as far back as 800 years, when trawling began, to measure its impact on the sea bed.
Trawling — large nets being dragged along the sea floor — was initially banned around much of Europe because fishermen recognised its destructive nature.
By the 19th century, however, the advent of steam-powered fishing vessels made the potential profits irresistible, leading to restrictions on trawling being overturned.
Roberts and his colleagues have unearthed accounts of what the nets brought up from the sea bed at the time and have found them to be significantly different from today’s hauls.
They discovered that 19th-century catches included millions of shellfish, along with corals, sponges, sea anemones and other creatures that grow out of the sea bed.
Fishermen describe in the records how their catches changed once trawlers had been through an area, with hooks and nets picking up vast mats of seaweed and other debris ripped from the bottom.
“The picture that emerges is that the bottom of our seas was largely covered in thick layers of shellfish and other sea life,” said Roberts. “It also supported a huge population of fish and kept the water clean. Now it has almost all gone.”
Jason Hall-Spencer, a marine biologist at the University of Plymouth, has found that many parts of Britain’s sea bed are trawled as often as 20 times a year. He has used underwater cameras attached to nets to film their impact.
“Imagine lowering a giant net into an orchard and then towing it through to collect apples,” he said. “It would destroy the life on which the harvest depends. The damage we are doing to the sea bed affects the whole marine ecosystem. We are degrading the seas on which we depend.”
Fish stocks have suffered drastically. In 1956 the British distant-water fishing fleet brought 8.36m tons of fish back to shore. By 1997 the entire UK fleet landed only 816,000 tons, and by 2007 that had fallen to 600,000 tons.
Roberts estimates that fish populations are now a tiny fraction of their natural level. “The North Sea was so full of sharks that they even occasionally killed sailors,” he said. “Today they are all gone.”
In those rare waters that have not been trawled recently, mainly because they receive military protection, the contrast in marine life is stark.
“In Plymouth Sound, a military harbour, there are the biggest oysters in British waters and rare bivalves, such as a foot-long fanshell can thrive because of the absence of trawlers,” said Hall-Spencer.
There have been similar revivals in the few tiny areas set aside for marine reserves, such as the waters around Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, where 2ft sponges are now common.
Such areas could become more numerous if the Marine Bill, now going through parliament, becomes law. Worldwide, however, the damage seems likely to increase.
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British sea bed 'trawled into a wasteland'
Started by
Guest_Steve Ellwood_*
, Jun 21 2009 09:20 AM
8 replies to this topic
#3
restlesswave
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Deckie
- Locationthe rosses,co.donegal
Posted 21 June 2009 - 02:03 PM
the corals,sponges and all the other s**t that grows out of the sea bed that the fishermen have supposedly destroyed-has been sorely missed. the British isles would be culturally,morally and financially far better of (albeit dying of the hunger) if this nasty trawling remained banned. we could all sleep sounder in our beds knowing all these wee sponges were going about their business free from being flattened by these (ahem) environmental killing machines. i suppose the fish these wonderfull crusaders of the sponges and other things that grow out of the sea bed eat in their fancy restaurants are caught by indigenous forelock tuggers the world over using environmentally sustainable methods like waiting for them to die of old age before they harvest them . (and of course being mindfull not to get sand under their finger nails when they lift the said expired fish of the beach and thus interfering with the delicate equilibrium of the marine habitat)-jesus wept.
bend it,and if you can`t bend it,break it.
#4 Guest_Steve Ellwood_*
Guest_Steve Ellwood_*
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Posted 23 June 2009 - 07:59 AM
The Prof getting more coverage - this time in FishupDate.com @ http://www.fishupdat...arine_life.html
Fishupdate.com
Biologist says trawling is killing marine life
Published: 22 June, 2009
LEADING marine biologist is blaming trawling for turning much of the sea bed around Britain's coastline into an underwater desert.
More than 100 years of constant fishing by powerful trawlers have combined to kill off much of the marine life arounbd our shores, says Professor Callum Roberts from York University who has carried out detailed research on the subject.
This is not the first time that Professor Roberts, who was tempted into marine science by a trip to the coral reefs in the Middle East, has spoken out on fisheries issues. Two years ago he condemned the EU quota system as misguided.
Using the evidence of deep sea photography, he suggests that a sea bed once rich in marine life and shellfish has largely become barren and the destruction of shellfish beds is one reason why much of the seawater on the surface has turned from blue to a dirty grey colour.
He told the Sunday Times at the weekend, which has published his report in some detail: 'These changes have taken place over such a long time that we cannot see them happening. Fishing, especially trawling has destroyed sea life and left us surrounded by a marine desert.'
By contrast, he points to areas around the coast where fishing is forbidden, usually for military reasons, where marine life and the seabeds are still full of life.
His study will add strength to environmentalists who are calling for ' no fishing' zones to be set up around the UK coastline.
Fishupdate.com
Biologist says trawling is killing marine life
Published: 22 June, 2009
LEADING marine biologist is blaming trawling for turning much of the sea bed around Britain's coastline into an underwater desert.
More than 100 years of constant fishing by powerful trawlers have combined to kill off much of the marine life arounbd our shores, says Professor Callum Roberts from York University who has carried out detailed research on the subject.
This is not the first time that Professor Roberts, who was tempted into marine science by a trip to the coral reefs in the Middle East, has spoken out on fisheries issues. Two years ago he condemned the EU quota system as misguided.
Using the evidence of deep sea photography, he suggests that a sea bed once rich in marine life and shellfish has largely become barren and the destruction of shellfish beds is one reason why much of the seawater on the surface has turned from blue to a dirty grey colour.
He told the Sunday Times at the weekend, which has published his report in some detail: 'These changes have taken place over such a long time that we cannot see them happening. Fishing, especially trawling has destroyed sea life and left us surrounded by a marine desert.'
By contrast, he points to areas around the coast where fishing is forbidden, usually for military reasons, where marine life and the seabeds are still full of life.
His study will add strength to environmentalists who are calling for ' no fishing' zones to be set up around the UK coastline.
#5
DOGSBODY
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Deckie
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Posted 23 June 2009 - 12:42 PM
This guy's layin all the BLAME on the fisherman for destroying our seabeds through EXCESSIVE TRAWLING,yet according to countless other MARINE BIOLOGISTS, WORLDWIDE the reason for seabeds becomming BARON LANDSCAPES devoid ov coral & the like, is down to GLOBAL WARMING,which incidently is caused mainly by GOVERNMENTS allowing all kinds ov s*ite to be pumped into the atmosphere, and for years & years turning a blind eye to all kinds ov crap being dumped at sea, BUT this guy won't be very quick to add that to his report, as he's probbably GOVERNMENT FUNDED, just another official arsewipe wanting to DESTROY what's left ov our industry!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Paul...shyboy...Johnson.
#6
sam
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Deckie
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Posted 23 June 2009 - 02:53 PM
Having read articles in the past referencing this Callum Roberts bloke I think that he'd blame the fishing industry for the holocaust if he could and have us all eating lettuce for three meals a day. I bet there are areas of the seabed that are completely barron yet have never seen a trawler, then again the more sensationalist people like this are the more money they get.
#7
isleseafoods
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Deckie
Posted 23 June 2009 - 04:20 PM
Quote
Having read articles in the past referencing this Callum Roberts bloke I think that he'd blame the fishing industry for the holocaust if he could and have us all eating lettuce for three meals a day. I bet there are areas of the seabed that are completely barron yet have never seen a trawler, then again the more sensationalist people like this are the more money they get.
He is indeed the anti-christ as far as fishermen are concerned, quite a lot of sea anglers are p1ssed off with him too - he is normally funded by people like the Pew Trust, WWF and other such tree huggers so he says what they want to hear.
#8
sam
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Deckie
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Posted 23 June 2009 - 04:53 PM
So basically that makes his 'research' about as valid as those scientists that were funded by cigarette company's to 'prove' that tobacco doesn't cause cancer. The thing is, this is all the public hear like with that end of the line scheidt.
#9
isleseafoods
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Deckie
Posted 23 June 2009 - 05:54 PM
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So basically that makes his 'research' about as valid as those scientists that were funded by cigarette company's to 'prove' that tobacco doesn't cause cancer. The thing is, this is all the public hear like with that end of the line scheidt.
Aye, it's all the public hear right enough - he has a high profile, was recently on tv telling us about the terrible damage anglers do to stocks - while they were all up in arms about article 47 dragging them into the CFP. He is a dangerous b*gger.
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