Is our reputation worth

It’s a debate we’ve been having since the 14th century. Ever since humans began dragging sailpowered nets along the sea floor, trawling has been controversial. But recently, social tensions about the industrial fishing practice have heightened. The grim reality of modern food production means more of us are trying to assuage guilt about how we are destroying the planet with every purchase or bite.

Just as heat has come on dairy farmers, palm oil producers and sugar plantations, consumers are also questioning the true price of fish.

The scrutiny is most intense around bottom trawling – a now globally-ubiquitous fishing method in which powerful vessels use enormous nets to scoop up tonnes of fish and other sea creatures over a matter of hours.

Critics point to the destruction wrought on seabed habitats and fragile marine life, and a large carbon footprint. But defenders say it is both efficient – it counts for more than a quarter of all global catch, and is able to catch volumes and types of fish impossible by other methods – and necessary to keep up with humankind’s insatiable demand for protein.

In New Zealand, seafood is a billion-dollar industry, employing thousands (mostly in processing) – and bottom trawling nets 80-90% of the catch. The domestic industry says there is no alternative to net the type of fish in demand from consumers, the ingredients in our freezer favourites like fish fingers, and to compete in international markets.

Although some conservationists would like to see a moratorium on bottom trawling in domestic waters, the lobbying power of fishing interests, the complex relationship between the Treaty and fishing rights, and the sector’s contribution to the economy, make that unrealistic. But a ban on trawling on New Zealand’s underwater volcanoes, known as sea mounts, is within grasp. These are oases of nutrients which attract marine species to feed, and allow slowgrowing coral to thrive.