Bottom trawling destroys far more ocean habitat than any other fishing practice on the West Coast. Trawlers drag large weighted nets across the ocean floor, clear-cutting a swath of habitat in their wake. These scars will take centuries to heal. Hard corals in Alaska have been dated to be hundreds to thousand of years old, and carbon dating on the oldest known deep sea coral reefs indicates they are 15,000 years old, yet these pillars of the ecosystem can be destroyed by one swipe of a bottom trawl.

A bottom trawl consists of a large tapered net with a wide mouth and a small enclosed end. The mouth of a trawl net has two weighted doors that serve not only to keep the net open, but also to keep the net on the ocean floor. These doors can weigh several tons. In addition to the heavy doors, the bottom of the net is a thick metal cable studded with heavy steel balls or rubber bobbins that effectively crush everything in their path. As the net drags along the seafloor, living habitat in its path is crushed, ripped up, or smothered as the seabed is turned over.

According to the National Academy of Sciences, bottom trawling reduces the complexity, productivity, and biodiversity of benthic habitats-damage is most severe in areas of corals and sponges. When disturbed by bottom trawling, as much as 90 percent of a coral colony perishes, and up to two-thirds of sponges are damaged. Additionally, in recent deep sea coral studies, a review of damaged areas seven years later revealed no new growth. Allowing reckless fishing practices to continue on the Pacific Coast is causing irreparable damage to the foundation of its vibrant ecosystems.

The damage from bottom trawling is not limited to habitat destruction. As the net drags along the seafloor, all creatures in its path-fish, animals, sea mammals, plants, and turtles-are scooped up. The fishing vessel keeps the targeted commercial species and discards the remaining, unwanted fish and animals-most dead or dying- back into the water.

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) data shows that in Alaska, bottom trawling is responsible for 97 percent of observed coral and sponge bycatch (the unwanted animals dumped back into the ocean). NMFS estimates more than a million pounds of corals and sponges are caught per year and discarded by bottom trawlers. Additionally, huge amounts of corals never make it to the surface to be counted. As the heavy nets drag the floor of the ocean, countless corals and sponges are ripped, overturned, or pulverized and left on the bottom to die.

Once coral and sponge communities are destroyed, commercial fish and other species dependent on them for spawning, shelter, nurseries, protection, and food may also disappear. In addition, overfished species such as rockfish and crab may need corals and other seafloor structures to provide appropriate habitat for recovery.

Immediate measures are needed to stop the horrifically destructive fishing practice of bottom trawling from destroying deep sea living seafloor habitat in order to maintain sustainable oceans for this and future generations.