HALIEUTIQUE MER ET LITTORAL

More than 90% of Britain’s offshore marine protected areas are still being bottom-trawled and dredged, two years after analysis of the extent of destructive fishing exposed them as “paper parks”, according to data shared with the Guardian.

The UK’s network of marine parks, set up to safeguard vulnerable areas of the seabed and marine life, is a cornerstone of the government’s target to protect 30% of ocean biodiversity by 2030.

But analysis of fishing vessel tracking data from Global Fishing Watch (GFW) and Oceana, a conservation NGO, found that fishing with bottom-towed gear took place last year on 58 out of 64 offshore “benthic” MPAs, which aim to protect species that live on the seabed. A total of 1,604 vessels, including industrial boats, spent 132,267 fishing hours in these MPAs in the UK, it found.

TROUBLED WATERS Irish fishing fleet to be gutted by one third to make Brexit quota as 60 trawlers vessels are set for the scrap heap.

Sixty trawlers will be decommissioned and taken out of business by the end of next year leaving just 100 vessels left in the whole country. The Government is to pay out €63.5 million in compensation from EU funds to the fishermen who are leaving the industry. All of the country’s fishing groups agreed to the deal except the West and South Fish Producers Association. Precise details are expected to be given to the Dail in the next week or two.