Bottom Trawling: Is It Harming the Sea Floor?

[Mk]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottom_trawling
I am skeptical! Some say this is extremely harmful effects on the sea floor. Is this true?

 

[hypatia]

From the Wiki you sited, it looks like it more then just "some" people who say its bad. I don't know much about it, but it reminds me of strip mineing. Coral provides natural homes to many other species.

 

[imabug]

bottom trawling is pretty indiscriminate and essentially scrapes everything off the bottom of the floor. there's the desired catch, and then other stuff like chunks of rock, corals, etc that get damaged in the process.

what makes you skeptical?

 

[arildno]

It is a simple and credible mechanism, and might well be true.

What is lacking here are just the precise order of magnitude effect of bottom trawling.