Jewel anemones. Image by Sally Sharrock.
Wildlife charity urging public to speak up for the region’s seabed
As the Government considers a ban on bottom trawling, research finds huge public support for protections for marine life.
Independent research conducted by Savanta for The Wildlife Trusts, indicates that eighty percent of people agree that marine wildlife should be treated with the same care as land-based wildlife, a new survey has found.
In addition, when told about bottom trawling, which is an industrialised form of fishing during which nets are dragged along the seabed, 57% of people said they were now more likely to buy sustainably caught fish.
Northumberland Wildlife Trust, together with the 45 other UK Wildlife Trusts strongly supports the proposed bans on bottom trawling and are encouraging people to add their voice by emailing the Marine Management Organisation which is running the consultation at Ban Bottom Trawling- Consultation to express their views on the proposed bans.
The survey comes as the Government continues to consult on the banning of bottom trawling in 41 offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in English waters which have been designated as protected sites due to the importance of their seabeds. Similar to nature reserves on land, there are 377 MPAs in the UK’s seas.
Duncan Hutt, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Director of Conservation says:
“It’s wonderful to find so much public support for our marine environment and in the UK, we are never more than seventy miles from the sea and every summer, millions of people are drawn to the coast.
“Seabeds are hidden beneath the waves and unfortunately, it’s been a case of ‘out of sight and out of mind’. If land-based nature reserves were being bulldozed, there would be an outcry. And yet bottom trawling has been going on for many years in these MPAs. It’s about time proper management was implemented.
“Northumberland has a diverse natural landscape existing beneath the waves off our coast landscapes including seagrass meadows and soft corals, not to mention the wonderful dolphins which appear each year, much to the delight of residents and visitors. Let’s all work together to protect it.”
The Wildlife Trusts are the biggest UK environmental charity looking after the marine environment.