Greenpeace calls for ban on ‘floating fish factories’

Supertrawlers fished ‘almost 3,000 hours’ in protected waters

“Destructive” supertrawlers are targeting areas off the coast of Tayside and Fife, stripping them of fish and harming the livelihoods of local crews, claim campaigners.

Greenpeace is calling for a ban on the “floating fish factories”, which it says spent a total of 2,606 hours, which equals 108 days, operating in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) off the coast of Scotland in 2019.

An investigation by the charity found the Firth of Forth Banks Complex was among those visited by supertrawlers, which fished in it for 14 minutes.

The far north coast of Scotland was the most fished area of the UK, with supertrawlers in the Wyville Thomson Ridge for 2,093 hours, followed by

Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope, in the Hebrides, at 270 hours.

The controversial factory ships can be more than 100 metres long and “vacuum” up huge quantities of fish every day, said Leon Fields from the Dundee Greenpeace group.

“I’m horrified to discover that the protected areas off the coast of Dundee and the rest of Scotland are being exploited by industrial fishing giants, and that this is happening legally,” he said.

“For the UK Government to be taken seriously as a leader in marine protection, it must ban supertrawler operations in the UK’s Marine Protected Areas.

“Current negotiations with the EU on fishing rights provide the perfect chance to do this.”

A Greenpeace investigation reported that 25 supertrawlers, none of which are UK-owned, spent nearly 3,000 hours fishing in MPAs off the UK in 2019.

Their presence off the UK coast has led to fears over fishing stocks and spikes in numbers of dolphin deaths.

Among them was the Dutch-owned Margiris, a 142-metre giant that gained notoriety after it was banned from Australian waters. MPAs protect important marine ecosystems and species, including porpoises and reefs.

Chris Thorne, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “Even an hour of supertrawler activity inside an ecologically sensitive marine environment is too much, let alone almost 3,000.”

A Defra spokesman said: “The Common Fisheries Policy currently restricts our ability to implement tougher protection, but leaving the EU and taking back control of our waters as an independent coastal state means we can introduce stronger measures.”

Greenpeace investigators used AIS tracking data from the Lloyds Register for all fishing boats over 100m to assess the amount of time spent fishing in UK MPAs. AIS tracking data is available on request.

The organisation has today launched a petition calling on the government to use new-found post-Brexit powers to put a stop to supertrawlers fishing in MPAs.

The petition can be accessed at the greenpeace.org.uk website.

Supertrawlers are said to ‘vacuum’ up huge quantities of fish.