Hilborn, R., et al. (2023), “Evaluating the sustainability and environmental impacts of trawling compared to other food production systems“. ICES Journal of Marine Science, fsad115.
The article lays down how seafood produced by bottom trawling can have a lower environmental impact than chicken or pork, and that banning bottom trawling would increase negative environmental impacts by increasing terrestrial protein production. Hilborn et al. have reviewed dozens of papers about bottom trawling impact, including stock sustainability, bycatch, ecosystem impact, and carbon footprint. Benthic sedimentary habitats remain in good condition where fishing pressure is well managed and where VME and species of concern can be protected by spatial management. Though bottom trawling is generally the most impactful kind of fishing, well-managed bottom trawl fisheries produce food with a much lower environmental impact than any terrestrial animal protein.
