Bering Sea closed to bottom trawling

摘要

The National Marine Fisheries Service recently announced that nearly 180,000m~2 of the Bering Sea would be closed to bottom trawling to protect important seafloor habitats and marine life, effective from the end of August. These in-the-water protections reflect an approach first developed by conservation organisation Oceana that freezes the current area, or 'footprint1, where trawling already occurs in the Bering Sea and prevents trawlers from expanding into previously untrawled areas.