Anglers Say Enough: Ban Bottom Trawling in Marine Protected Areas

The Angling Trust has responded to the Marine Management Organisation’s (MMO) latest consultation on how to manage damaging fishing activity in England’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) – and our message is clear: it’s time to end bottom trawling in these supposedly protected sites.

For years, anglers have questioned the value of ‘paper parks’ – areas marked on maps as MPAs but still wide open to the most destructive form of fishing: bottom-towed gear. These heavy nets and dredges scrape along the seabed, smashing fragile habitats and stripping out the invertebrates, plants and structures that underpin healthy marine ecosystems.

If MPAs are to mean anything, bottom trawling must be banned from their entirety.

Why This Matters to Sea Anglers

A healthy seabed means healthy fisheries. When habitats such as reefs, sandbanks and seagrass beds are protected from destructive gear, they can recover and once again support thriving fish populations. That benefits:

• Recreational sea anglers through better catches and more resilient stocks.
• Charter skippers and coastal businesses that rely on angling tourism.
• Small-scale, low-impact commercial fishers using rod-and-line, who depend on healthy fish populations.

Over the summer, more than 47,000 people backed our petition calling for a whole-site ban on bottom trawling in MPAs. Anglers want to see real protections, not box-ticking exercises.

The Angling Trust’s Position

We have told the MMO that:

• Bottom-towed gear must be prohibited from all MPAs designated for their seabed features, adopting a whole-site approach rather than a piecemeal approach, so ecosystems can recover properly.
• Equivalent protections must apply inshore of 6 nautical miles, so IFCAs manage their waters consistently with offshore sites.
• These measures (known as Stage 3) should be implemented in full by 2025, not kicked further down the road.
• Monitoring and enforcement must be scaled up, so protections are more than just words on paper.
• The Government must support a just transition for affected fishers and recognise the long-term socio-economic benefits of well-managed MPAs for coastal communities, sea anglers and low-impact fishers alike.

“For too long, many Marine Protected Areas have been little more than lines on a map while bottom trawling continues to devastate the seabed inside them. Sea anglers see firsthand the damage this does to fish stocks and the wider marine environment. If MPAs are to mean anything, bottom trawling must be banned across whole sites, not just in small patches, so our seas can recover and future generations can enjoy thriving fisheries and a healthy ocean. The Government has an opportunity here to show leadership, but words alone won’t cut it; we need urgent, decisive action rather than backing down to pressure. Our seas, our fisheries and our coastal communities deserve better than watered-down compromises.” said Hannah Rudd, Head of Marine

Learning from Other Countries

The UK is falling behind. Countries like Greece and Sweden have already committed to banning bottom trawling in MPAs. If the Government is serious about meeting its own Environment Act targets and international biodiversity commitments, it must follow suit- and fast.

Protecting MPAs from bottom-trawling will deliver healthier seas, stronger fish stocks and better prospects for future generations of anglers.

Our Call to Action

The Angling Trust strongly supports the MMO’s Stage 3 proposals and urges the Government to:

• Implement them in full by the end of 2025.
• Expand them to cover whole sites, not just mapped features.
• Ensure IFCAs deliver equivalent protections inshore.
• Align marine planning and offshore development with the MPA network so protections aren’t undermined elsewhere.

MPAs should be the crown jewels of our seas. It’s time they were treated that way. The Angling Trust is calling for bottom-trawling to be kicked out of Marine Protected Areas. You can join the fight by becoming a member of the Angling Trust today.