Hiddink et al. (2026) assessed the impact of bottom trawling on Greenland’s seabed ecosystems and found that fishing activity was highly spatially concentrated, with 83% of 1 km² grid cells remaining untrawled. While many Greenland seabed habitats were estimated to be relatively sensitive to bottom trawling, the overall impact was limited due to the low average swept area ratio (SAR) compared with more intensively fished regions elsewhere in the world. The study highlights how the combination of low fishing pressure and patchy trawling distribution can help reduce ecosystem-wide impacts while supporting sustainable fishing activity.
