Trawling the Bottom of the Ocean Is Kicking Up Tons of Carbon Dioxide
Scouring the ocean floor for shrimp, cod and other seafood is releasing up to 370 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year, according to a new study.
Fishers sort scallops aboard a French fishing trawler in the English Channel in 2021.
Photographer: Nathan Laine/BloombergYour shrimp cocktail comes with a side of carbon dioxide, according to scientists who have for the first time quantified greenhouse emissions caused by a destructive fishing technique known as bottom trawling.
Bottom-trawling ships deploy huge weighted nets — up to half a mile (0.8 kilometers) in length — that scour the ocean floor to scoop up shrimp, crab, cod, halibut and other fish. Scientists and environmentalists have long opposed bottom trawling for the damage it inflicts on seabed ecosystems such as coral reefs, and for killing sea turtles, sharks and other non-targeted marine species inadvertently caught in the drag nets.