Time to ban destructive practice of bottom trawling

It’s responsible for the bulk of the damage that human beings have done to the oceans. More than half the fish caught in this manner are ‘bycatch,’ thrown back into the water dead or dying.

We cannot rebuild healthy oceans unless that bottom trawling stopped in the safe zones where fish populations should be able to recover, writes Gwynne Dyer.Photograph courtesy of David Dodge/Green Energy Futures/Creative Commons

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

June 12, 2025

LONDON, U.K.—At the age of 99, British documentary filmmaker David Attenborough has achieved his greatest triumph. With a single film clip, he has signed the death warrant for one of the world’s most destructive industries: bottom trawling. The companies and countries th...

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