More than 140,000 square miles of seafloor along the West Coast will be protected from bottom trawling under a plan finalized by NOAA today.
Conservation groups have long opposed bottom-trawl fishing gear, in which weighted nets are dragged to catch fish living near the seafloor. They say it damages the habitat, endangering rocky reefs, sponge beds and deep-sea corals, among other things.
The rule will take effect Jan. 1, NOAA said in a notice published in today’s Federal Register.
Today’s action caps nearly a decade of work for conservationists, NOAA, local fishery managers and fishermen. The Pacific Fishery Management Council first approved the plan on a unanimous vote in April 2018.
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