Bottom trawling

ABSTRACT

The topic of this paper is Bottom trawling. It claims that to stop the bottom trawling. There are three reasons for the argument. The first is the ocean will be damage, the second one is there are no limit fishing. The third reason is that the small fishers are affected by bottom trawling.










Can you imagine if the ocean floor will be flat? Can you believe the ocean will be like a swimming pool? Can you imagine the fishes in the see will disappear? If the fishers will continue to fishing by bottom trawling in the ocean floor all of the questions will happen. And the governments should stop the bottom trawling in the sees to protect the ocean floor, number of fishes, and small fishers.
In “Save deep sea life” state “Bottom trawling involves dragging huge, heavy nets along the sea floor. Large metal plates and rubber wheels attached to these nets move along the bottom and crush nearly everything in their path” (n.d., para.7). in fact the bottom trawling has a lot of bad causes according to Mittelstaedt (2006), ” Bottom trawling is considered one of the world's most destructive fishing practices, the deep-sea version of clear-cutting on land because it involves dragging weighted nets along the sea floor, scooping up marine life and destroying the habitat in its path. Sea bottoms are home to corals and sponges that provide vital habitat for juvenile fish, and many scientists say the trawling has to be curbed to maintain the long-term health of ocean fisheries.” (para. 6). The bottom trawling have been starting 10 century before, in “Sustainable Fisheries” the author tell us “In 12th century England, British fishermen petitioned against bottom trawling, then done under sail, because of the damage the nets did to fish and the ocean floor. Canadian and international trawlers (such as the U.S., Soviet Union, and Japan) began fishing the B.C. coast for groundfish in the 1940s, until the establishment of the 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone in 1977 excluded foreign vessels. B.C. trawlers have operated under an Individual Vessel Quota “IVQ” system since 1997. The IVQ management system sets out a yearly Total Allowable Catch “TAC” for 28 groundfish species, and allows license holders to buy, sell, trade, and lease quota without restriction.” (n.d., para. 2). In addition there is a lot of government that made decision to stop the bottom trawling. According to Molloy (2006), “Fishery regulators banned bottom trawling in nearly 150,000 square miles (384,000 square kilometers) of federal waters off the West Coast” (para.1).
First, when the big ships are fishing in the ocean by using bottom trawling they are damage the ocean floor. In addition, this is harmful for the plants and stones that live in deep of the ocean. In consequence, a lot of fishes will die because these plants and stones are food for a lot of kind of fishes. Moreover, the ocean floor has created from millions of years ago in “Looking at the Sea” the author tell us ” the ocean floor seem to be more than about 200 million years old” (n.d., para. 7). In addition, they damage history has taken a lot of million years just in little time.
Second, there is another problem from bottom trawling which is unlimited fishing. In fact unlimited fishing is happened by two ways. First when they fishing by bottom trawling they cutch every kinds of fishes which they need or not, and some of these fishes that they don’t need are foods for another; as result, they make damage in natural sustainable because the fishes that eat the other kinds of fishes, which the people don’t need them, will not find food resources. Second, the fishers are using a huge net to cutch the fishes. However, this net could hold by the ocean floor, and it will kill a lot of fishes by hold the fishes in it, and they cannot get out of the net until they die. Finally, unlimited fishing helps to die out a lot of kinds of fishes because the fishers that die will be more than
Third, the bottom trawling has economic problem that affects the small fishers by two ways. First, when the big ships fishing by bottom trawling in some areas and they damage these areas. Then, these areas it will be die, which is no live can live there. As result, the small fishers, who were fishing in these areas, cannot fishing there any more, and they should find others place to fishing. In fact, when small fishers want to find others places to fishing, it will cost them a lot because they should search about good area to fishing and they will get a lot of fuels to operate their boats. Second, the companies that they use bottom trawling their fishes will be cheaper than small fishers’ fishes, because they fishing by huge number of fishes in less time than small fishers. In addition, the small fishers get a lot of time to find place to fishing.
However, the opponents argue that the market has a lot of demands for the fishes. Furthermore, the biggest fish companies should increase their fish supplies, and the best way to increase the number of fishes in the market is fishing by bottom trawling. However, this is not best solution because has a lot of consequences. First, when these companies fishing, they fishing without any limit for fishing. In fact, this kind of fishing will cause die out for some kind of fishes, and that will cause a lot of damage for the environment. Second, these companies will cause another problem, whish is damage any thing will be in the areas that they fishing in. Furthermore, the food resources will disappear and the fishes that were live there will find other places to live in.
In conclusion, the governments should stop fishing by bottom trawling because it effect the ocean floor, fishes lives, and the market economy.











References
Looking at the Sea (n.d.) Retrieved June 22, 2007, from
http://www.mos.org/oceans/planet/features.html
Mittelstaedt, M. (2006, November 22). Ottawa stands firm against bottom
trawling ban. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved June 22, 2007, from LexisNexis.
Molloy, T. ( 2006, March 9) Bottom trawling banned in some U.S.
waters off West Coast. Associated Press Worldstream. Retrieved June 22, 2007, from LexisNexis.
Save deep sea life (n.d.) Retrieved June 22, 2007 from
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/save-our-seas-2/save-deep-sea-life
Sustainable Fisheries (n.d.) Retrieved June 22, 2007 from
http://livingoceans.org/fisheries/whatis.shtml

summary

In his article, “Bering Sea bottom trawling banned”, he discusses a decision to ban the bottom trawling in 180,000 square miles of the northern Bering Sea. The decision made by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which direct the federal government on fisheries in federal waters off Alaska. All members in the council voted for the decision, which regulates fishing on the Bering Sea. Public greeted the decision; especially representatives of conservation groups and Alaska’s fishing industry because the decision has options they asked for. The writer goes on to mention opinions of some interested people, who greeted the decision. Now, in order to catch groundfish species, fisheries have to put their nets on about 150,000 square miles (less than a half) of the Bering Sea. In addition, fisheries have one year period to technically modify their vessels to reduce effects in the seafloor. Based on David Benton, who runs an organization that represents 80 percent of the fisheries and processors operating in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, one year period is an enough time. Moreover, the decision includes the formation of a research area in the northern Bering Sea, which would help to locate the exact areas to be protected from bottom trawling. A plan will be developed and reviewed by the council to be implemented within two years of final action. During this time, the area will be closed. Then, the writer goes on to talk about the importance of the Bering Sea, which is an important home for many animals and a spot to pass by the gray whales and endangered bowhead and humpback whales through their annual migration.