Greenpeace is scathing in its response to the new Fisheries Industry Transformation plan’s recommendations for bottom trawling, which the organisation says amounts to little more than fanciful thinking, offering false hope that some future technology will fix the problem.

"It’s very clear that ocean protection is woefully lacking in New Zealand, with most marine environments in decline, and many marine species now threatened with extinction. It’s frustrating to see yet another report effectively written by the same industry that exploits the very ocean we need to protect," says Greenpeace Aotearoa oceans campaigner Ellie Hooper.

"Bottom trawling is the worst of the worst, an indiscriminately destructive form of fishing akin to bulldozing an ancient forest just to catch some increasingly rare birds.

"This plan relies on the hope that future tweaks to technology will be anywhere near enough to solve the problem. But we already know bottom trawling devastates habitats - the science is very clear on that - so the government must take action and enforce restrictions.

"Bottom trawling should be banned on richly biodiverse seamounts that are targeted in the deep sea, and in fragile inshore areas like the Hauraki Gulf."

Seamounts are biodiversity hotspots, often home to unique, endemic species. These underwater mountains underpin ocean health and play an important role in the long-term sustainability of ocean life, including fisheries.

"There’s a multitude of reasons why these areas should be protected from bottom trawling, and no good reason to allow it to continue", says Hooper.

In a protest against bottom trawling in the Hauraki Gulf organised by Greenpeace and Forest & Bird a week ago, hundreds of people gathered on the beach at Mission Bay and on the water in a range of crafts to deploy a giant Ban Bottom Trawling banner.

Polling shows that the vast majority of New Zealanders oppose bottom trawling - with 84% wanting it gone from the Hauraki Gulf, and almost 80% agreeing it should be banned on seamounts.

"The public mandate is very clear," says Hooper.

"People want this method gone and we can’t keep having endless government forums and discussions about it. If the government is serious about protecting the ocean - they actually already know what they have to do: ban trawling on seamounts and features, remove it from the decimated Hauraki Gulf marine park."Over seven thousand people have signed a petition calling for bottom trawling to be banned in the Hauraki Gulf marine park.

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