Trawlers annihilating seabed, says scientist

[struggle4progress]

14.06.05


By Anne Beston


Bottom-trawling is "absolute annihilation" of the seabed and must be stopped, says a New Zealand marine scientist.

Dr Steve O'Shea, a marine biologist at the Auckland University of Technology who specialises in the study of the mysterious giant squid, said he had had a "gutsful" of the misinformation about the effects of bottom-trawling. <snip>

As the fishing industry and environmentalists wage a war of words and dispute figures of exactly how much of the ocean floor is being affected by bottom-trawling, Dr O'Shea said it was time the Government lived up to its promise to impose marine reserve orders on 10 per cent of New Zealand's marine environment by 2010.

"There should be some urgency. For God's sake let's do something practical now before it's too late." <snip>

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