The True Cost of Bottom Trawling in Europe: €16 Billion a Year

New peer-reviewed research estimates that bottom trawling in Europe’s waters costs society up to €16 billion annually, largely due to climate impacts and harmful subsidies, compounded by waste through discards and intensive fuel use. These findings make clear that bottom trawling carries enormous economic and public interest costs.

And that’s not even the full picture.

As highlighted in the National Geographic press release, our own recent research — the world’s first global inventory of its kind — catalogued more than 3,000 fish species caught in bottom trawls, including endangered animals such as seahorses and sharks, as well as species that are commercially vital. The impact on ecosystems and fisheries of removing so many species from the ocean is not yet fully understood, but it is likely to be highly negative.

The evidence is mounting. Governments must take a precautionary approach and exclude bottom trawling from large swathes of the ocean — and particularly from so-called marine protected areas.