Could a ban on harmful trawler fishing protect Scotland’s vital, vulnerable sea life?

This week saw some long-awaited good news for Scotland’s coastal waters, which host some of the world’s richest and most diverse marine life, including bottlenose dolphins, porpoises, minke whales and otters.

On Monday, the Scottish government proposed banning trawling, a highly destructive type of fishing that drags weighted nets along the seabed, in parts of the country’s offshore waters, to protect and restore damaged marine ecosystems.

This type of fishing scoops up a high proportion of non-target species, has a negative impact on marine biodiversity and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Early-stage research on the disturbance of seafloor sediments caused by bottom trawling globally estimates that it could release more carbon than the aviation sector.

More, after this week’s most important reads.

The Scottish government plan, set out in a public consultation, covers 20 vulnerable offshore habitats currently designated as marine protected areas (MPAs). It proposes either a zoned or a full ban on trawling and dredging at 15 of these sanctuaries, and a full ban at the five other sites.

The consultation was welcomed by campaigners as a “significant” and “long-awaited” move. If implemented, it would protect the marine environment and help bring Britain closer to its target of protecting 30% of sea and land by 2030.

But it is also not enough, they say. Scotland lags behind England in banning or managing trawling inside marine sanctuaries. The move follows years of criticism from campaigners, who have accused Scottish ministers of breaking their promises by missing deadlines to protect vulnerable marine life from the impact of overfishing and the impacts of the climate emergency. And it comes less than a year after the Scottish government was forced to abandon its plans to create highly protected marine areas, which would have banned fishing in 10% of Scotland’s waters, after opposition from the fishing industry.

Launching the consultation, Gillian Martin, Scotland’s net zero and energy secretary, said: “Scotland has beautiful and diverse marine ecosystems. However, the twin biodiversity and climate crises mean we must act now to support the recovery and resilience of our marine environment.”

“These proposals are the result of many years of development and we will continue to consult very closely with industry and coastal communities to hear their views.”

Phil Taylor, director of Open Seas, one of several organisations in Scotland working for marine protection, told the Guardian: “Most of our marine protected areas were designated over 10 years ago – so this move is a very overdue, but a welcome step.”

In 2020, the Guardian revealed that 97% of British “marine protected areas” were being dredged and bottom trawled, drawing accusations from campaigners that the government was misleading the public over marine “paper parks”. In March, marine conservation group Oceana revealed that industrial vessels suspected of bottom trawling spent 33,000 hours inside British marine protected areas last year.

But Britain is not alone in allowing the destructive practices inside marine sanctuaries.

A report in April by Seas At Risk and the Marine Conservation Society showed that bottom trawling was taking place in 90% of offshore EU in MPAs between 2015 and 2023. The Netherlands had the highest number of bottom-towed fishing hours recorded within the MPA sites, followed by Germany, Denmark and Spain. This year, Greece became the first country to announce a ban in all its national marine parks and protected areas.

Taylor said that he hoped the consultation would lead to additional protections for Scotland’s 34 inshore MPAs, half of which have no or inadequate management. “Alongside the many people and organisations campaigning for sustainable management of our seas, we are glad to see ministers finally beginning to deliver on some of their commitments, but unfortunately the government’s job is only half-done.”

Karen McVeigh is a senior reporter on the Guardian’s Seascape series, which examines the dramatic changes taking place in our oceans

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Down to Earth readers on the eco-friendly changes they made for the planet

Among a host of changes suggested by UK reader Gerry Tissier was a perfect piece of summer advice: researching eco-friendly hotels, B&Bs and more for your next trip away.

“I want my children to have healthy bodies, healthy minds and good cognition. Those things aren’t possible without clean air, clean water and clean food,” she says. “I bought a handbook of all the organic farms and B&Bs around the UK and made sure I could access organic food when on holiday in Cornwall, Wales or Scotland.”

It’s a small step but “our planet is being actively consumed and destroyed by those that choose to meet their own needs above global needs,” Tissier says. “It is too late to reverse the changes now. But we have to keep trying to minimise our mess.”

Let us know the positive change you’ve made in your life by replying to this newsletter, or emailing us on downtoearth@theguardian.com

Profiling the Earth’s most at-risk animals

Population: 22,000-31,000
Location: Arctic Circle
Status: Vulnerable

Polar bears have become a kind of canary in the coalmine for climate change. We watch documentaries about these majestic animals desperately trying to survive as the Arctic icebergs melt, seriously hampering their ability to hunt and breed. Yet researchers have remarked on the adaptability of polar bears in areas such as Greenland where there is increasingly less sea ice, while the banning of polar-bear hunting in countries such as Norway has helped to sustain the population.

For more on wildlife at threat, visit the Age of Extinction page here

One image that sums up the week in environmental news

Credit: Google Earth

Construction of a new Tesla factory near Berlin in Germay may have come at the cost of 500,000 trees in the area, according to satellite analysis.

The Guardian’s Damian Carrington and Ajit Niranjan report that “satellite images show 329 hectares (813 acres) of forest were cut down at the site between March 2020 and May 2023, according to the environmental intelligence company Kayrros”; the equivalent of half a million trees.

For more of the week’s best environmental pictures, catch up on The Week in Wildlife here