Project Seahorse Contributes to Landmark Report on Bottom Trawling and Food Security

As a member of the Transform Bottom Trawling (TBT) research coordination team, Project Seahorse is pleased to have contributed to a newly launched report challenging one of the most persistent myths in fisheries policy: that industrial bottom trawling is essential to feeding a growing global population.

The report, based on nine case studies across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, Oceania, and North America, finds that while bottom trawling accounts for around 26% of global marine fish catches, it frequently undermines the very food systems it claims to support. The question it compels us to ask is not how much fish is caught, but who eats it, in what form, and at what cost.

Across all case studies, bottom trawling was found to reshape food systems, restricting access to important fishing grounds, diverting nutrients away from local diets, and marginalizing small-scale and post-harvest livelihoods. While industry narratives emphasize efficiency, interviews with small-scale fishers reveal a stark reality: the efficiency of industrial trawling often comes at the cost of nutritional stability and food sovereignty for coastal communities. These impacts are also gendered, with women in post-harvest roles among those most affected.

The report calls for a fundamental shift in fisheries governance, from measuring success by production volume to measuring it by nutritional equity. Key policy recommendations include centering small-scale fisher voices in decision-making, enforcing and expanding Inshore Exclusion Zones to 12 nautical miles, freezing the trawling footprint, and ending subsidies that drive overcapacity.

Bottom trawling is a multidimensional challenge. Transforming it demands multidisciplinary collaboration and a commitment to the health of our oceans and the millions whose food and livelihoods depend on them.

Read the full #TransformBottomTrawling report here.