Friday, 12 June 2020

When is a Marine Protected Area Not Protected?

The answer to the above question appears to be 'when it's in the UK'. It has been reported that, in 2019, up to 25 'super-trawlers', with nets up to a mile long, fished for 3000 hours in our fairly modest marine protected zones (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/11/supertrawlers-making-a-mockery-of-uks-protected-seas). They took hundreds of tons of fish, utilising equipment that is damaging to the sea bed and its benthic life forms. The sad thing is that, properly managed,  marine protected areas appear to increase fish stocks in surrounding areas One must agree that allowing such activity, makes a mockery of the whole concept of a 'protected zone'.

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