A new clip from the documentary Ocean With David Attenborough has highlighted the devastating effects of bottom trawling.
The film, which has been released worldwide to coincide with the legendary broadcaster and naturalist's 99th birthday, puts a spotlight on the challenges that our ocean is currently facing – as well as how it holds the key to a flourishing planet.
The heart-wrenching footage featured in the clip is the first time the process of bottom trawling was filmed in such high quality. The ocean floor is dredged by iron chains, with fish of all kinds being swept up into the net.
Attenborough reveals that trawlers, often on the hunt for a single species, discard over three quarters of their catch, remarking, “it’s hard to imagine a more wasteful way to catch fish.” The discarded fish are simply “thrown away” and swept back into the sea. An area almost the size of the Amazon rainforest is trawled every year, with the same places being trawled repeatedly.
Find out more about Oceans With David Attenborough, including where you can watch it.
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Main image: a still image of bottom trawling taking place on the ocean floor. Credit: Silverback Films, Open Planet Studios and Altitude