Supertrawlers have spent an average of 7,380 hours fishing in UK Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) every year since Brexit, devastating marine habitats and fish populations.
That’s according to a recent Greenpeace UK investigation, which reveals that despite the UK government’s post-Brexit powers to ban these industrial vessels, mainly foreign-flagged vessels continue to fish legally, selling most of their catch overseas.
“The government is failing our protected seas,” said Erica Finnie, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK.
“Marine Protected Areas should be places for marine biodiversity and habitats to recover, but the government is making a mockery of our MPAs by allowing industrial fishing to continue in these so-called protected waters.”
Habitat destruction
The report reveals that from January 2020 to January 2025, 26 supertrawlers spent nearly 37,000 hours fishing in 44 of the UK’s offshore MPAs.
This has had a devastating impact including the destruction of sensitive marine ecosystems and the bycatch of non-target species like dolphins, porpoises, sharks and rays.
Greenpeace UK said that this also threatens the sustainability of UK fish stocks and undermines the country’s small-scale fishing fleet, which largely lands its catch domestically.
The report’s findings show that just ten MPAs, mainly off the coast of Scotland, accounted for over 80% of supertrawler fishing time. Conservationists are urging the UK’s Labour government to fulfill its promise of protecting 30% of UK waters by 2030 and to take decisive action against illegal fishing and destructive industrial practices.
With mounting pressure from environmental groups and over 750,000 petition signatures, Greenpeace UK said that the demand for immediate protection of the UK’s MPAs has never been clearer.
