As the world’s attention shifts to the UN climate and biodiversity COPs, it’s clearer than ever that we need bold action to address the unprecedented crisis facing our lands and seas.

In our oceans, industrial bottom trawlers and dredgers continue to have an outsized impact on the lives of coastal communities, carbon emissions, ecosystem decline, and fisheries conflict. The TBT Coalition’s members are committed to finding solutions to the impacts of trawling that support the livelihoods of coastal communities and safeguard marine life.

In the EU, new reports and data tools provide robust evidence that bottom trawling must be banned in MPAs. Meanwhile, Scottish campaign groups have provided evidence to a Government Committee on the dire state of inshore seas and called for a reinstatement of an inshore limit on bottom trawling and dredging among other priorities.

At the 12th WIOMSA Scientific Symposium, coalition members and community representatives talked about the impacts of bottom trawling in Somalia and Kenya. It laid the foundation for stronger collaboration and actions to address bottom trawling and amplify fishers’ voices.