Impact Of Deep-Sea Trawling

EDM number 1562 in 2001-02, proposed by Mark Lazarowicz on 03/07/2002.

That this House expresses concern at the increase in recent years in commercial deep-sea trawling by several European fisheries off the north and west coasts of Scotland, which remains largely unregulated; notes the opinion of the Scottish Association for Marine Science that this activity is unsustainable and may already have caused significant damage to formerly pristine deep seabed ecosystems at the continental margin; therefore calls on the Government to increase funding for the Natural Environmental Research Council to enable it to undertake research into the impact of trawling on the deep seabed environment; and urges both United Kingdom and Scottish Ministers to support EU measures to regulate this activity in future.

This motion has been signed by a total of 38 MPs.