Over one-quarter of harmful bottom-trawling activities recorded in U.K. marine protected areas (MPAs) in 2023 were conducted by just 10 vessels, none of which were flagged to the U.K.

A new analysis conducted by nonprofit Oceana UK, utilizing data from the Global Fishing Watch (GFW), uncovered approximately 100,000 hours of apparent industrial fishing within U.K. MPAs in 2023, 33,000 hours of which were carried out by vessels employing bottom-towing gear such as bottom trawls and dredges.

The 10 non-U.K. flagged vessels, each over 20 meters long, were responsible for 27 percent of the suspected bottom trawling, whereas U.K. vessels conducted around 6 percent of the total 33,000 hours of suspected trawling.

In response to the findings, Oceana UK has called for all political parties ahead of the U.K. general election in early July to commit to banning bottom trawling across all MPAs.