Taxpayer-funded bottom trawling costs Europe billions. Has Türkiye found the solution?
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Türkiye’s Gökova Bay shows what happens when bottom trawling is banned. What can other European countries learn?
Türkiye’s Gökova Bay was once an ecosystem on the brink. Overfishing, intense tourism, invasive species and rising sea temperatures had depleted its once-thriving waters and destroyed a way of life for local fishers.
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It became the country’s first Marine Protected Area (MPA) in 2010 and is now testament to the power of ocean conservation.
Its crystal waters are now home to nearly 73 per cent of Türkiye’s fish species. Endangered Mediterranean monk seals have returned to breed there. The income of local fishers has soared by 300 per cent, NGO Revive Our Ocean reports.
Not all of Europe’s 6,000 MPAs have been so exemplary. Bottom trawlers continue to operate in more than half of them, due to gaps between conservation and fisheries policies, as well as lobbying and a lack of enforcement of protections on paper.
These huge industrial fishing vessels drag heavy nets fitted with metal chains – some as large as 12 Boeing 747s – along the seabed, indiscriminately scooping up marine life as they go.
Taxpayer-funded bottom trawling costs European society billions
Propped up by €1.17 billion in taxpayer subsidies, European-flagged ‘bottom trawlers’ release an average of 112.4 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere every year by guzzling fuel and disturbing carbon-trapping sediment on the seafloor.
All of this costs European society up to €16 billion per year – mostly in climate impacts, from sea level rise to human health and reduced labour productivity – according to a new study by National Geographic Pristine Seas. That means the net costs of bottom trawling to society are 90 times greater than the €180 million in annual profits generated by the industry itself.
It also creates mountains of food waste: up to 75 per cent of marine life caught in these nets is discarded, valued at €220 million per year.
RelatedYet for all this cost, bottom trawlers provide just 2 per cent of the animal protein consumed across Europe – while directly employing fewer than 20,000 people. Small-scale fisheries, by contrast, generate approximately three times more jobs.
The economic fragility of the industry was laid bare recently when at least half the Dutch bottom trawling fleet stayed in port due to soaring diesel costs amid the Iran war – a stark reminder of how fossil fuel-dependent the practice is.
“Our study makes it clear that bottom trawling in European waters is not just an environmental disaster, it’s an economic failure,” says Professor Enric Sala, National Geographic Explorer in Residence and one of the authors of the study published today (28 April) in the Ocean & Coastal Management journal.
How did Gökova Bay stamp out bottom trawling?
When Gökova became an Marine Protected Area in 2010, no-fishing zones were established and nearly half of the bay was closed to bottom trawling.
Enforcement of these rules relies heavily on community involvement. Marine rangers, many who are local fishers themselves, patrol its 100-kilometre stretch daily.
Among them is Ayşenur Ölmez, 28, who grew up fishing with her parents in Gökova Bay and became Türkiye's first female marine ranger.
“I call the sea home. I call Gökova home. And to protect my home, I had to do something,” she told Revive Our Ocean last year. “I became a marine ranger so that I could fish again in the future.”
The bay is no longer plagued with invasive species, and sandbar sharks and Mediterranean monk seals – both endangered – have returned to breed there. In 2017, Gökova was recognised as one of the world's 16 best Marine Protected Areas at the UN Ocean Conference in New York.
Türkiye has since expanded its MPAs and no-fishing zones, building on the success of Gökova Bay.
What can Europe learn from Gökova Bay?
Across Europe, however, most MPAs lack strong protections against bottom trawling. In Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain, over a quarter of all time spent trawling takes place inside these ‘protected’ zones.
Proposals to restrict bottom trawling in some UK MPAs have made slow progress, with Greenpeace noting a “stark gap between political promises and reality at sea”. Between 2020 and 2024, 1.3 million tonnes of fish were caught inside the country’s MPAs, 250,000 tonnes of which by bottom-towed gear.
Under its Marine Action Plan to protect biodiversity, the European Commission plans to phase out bottom trawling in MPAs across the EU by 2030. In 2024, Greece became the first European country to commit to banning bottom trawling in all its MPAs; Sweden followed shortly after.
RelatedYet many of Europe’s MPAs are only minimally protected, the National Geographic report states.
Eliminating bottom trawling from MPAs – particularly those with carbon-rich sediments – could deliver immediate emission cuts and help to restore ecosystems, the report says. In turn, this would boost the productivity of nearby fisheries.
Seasonal closures, license limitations, quotas or trip limits could be used to reduce trawling in protected zones.
However, the report warns that careful management would be needed to prevent bottom trawling from simply being displaced to other areas.
“While we ultimately need to reduce bottom trawling across Europe’s waters to unlock societal benefits, banning it in protected areas is a critical first step – a win for the climate, the ocean and even the fishing industry itself,” says Sala.
As seen in Gökova Bay, policy isn't enough to ensure ocean protection: community buy-in is essential. For Ayşenur Ölmez, the proof is in the water she patrols every day. “I became a marine ranger so that I could fish again in the future,” she told Revive Our Ocean. “I am extremely hopeful.”
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