FISHING: New photographs reveal wildlife toll from trawling for scampi
heaneymedia
Author: Rob Edwards in The Ferret investigative journal
Campaigners have published 30 photos which they say expose the marine wildlife killed by “destructive” and “wasteful” fishing for scampi around Scotland.
The pictures, mostly garnered from fishing industry social media accounts, show that trawling the seabed for langoustines to produce scampi also traps many other fish, including young white fish, flatfish, starfish and sharks.
The campaign group, Open Seas, says that for every kilogram of langoustine, at least another kilogram of other marine life is caught in bottom-trawl nets. It is urging supermarkets to “say no to scampi”.
The campaign has provoked an angry response from the fishing industry, which describes its claims as “incorrect” and “misleading”. One major producer accuses Open Seas of trying to destroy seabed trawling “by hook or by crook”.
Fishing for langoustines in Scotland is big business, with landings worth £91m in 2019, providing 43 per cent of the world’s supply. Most were caught by 284 seabed trawlers.
Langoustine tails are made into scampi, sometimes whole and sometimes reconstituted with minced white fish. Deep fried in breadcrumbs, they are a popular pub meal in the UK.
But there have long been concerns about the fish accidentally caught in the nets of the langoustine trawlers. The 30 photos published by Open Seas show large heaps of dead langoustines dumped on boat decks, tangled up with many other species.
Adult and juvenile herring, mackerel, whiting, pollack and plaice can be seen mixed with the bright orange lobster-like langoustines. Also visible in the photos are flatfish, crabs, starfish, sharks and other species.
FULL STORY IS ON THE FERRET INVESTIGATIVE JOURNAL WEBSITE
