Dr Sylvia Earle

20 October 2000

“If people could see how bottom trawls catch fish, they would be appalled. I have seen it: these scrapers go across the ocean floor and take everything. It is like using a bulldozer to catch songbirds.

The European Union has an opportunity to really take the lead and inspire the rest of the world to take action as well. We need to stop bottom trawling, the single most destructive activity in terms of what is harming the ocean wildlife and therefore our lives.”