17 trawlers fished during 2022 in the Menorca Channel

A total of 17 trawlers fished during 2022 in the Menorca Channel, an area that has been declared a Site of Community Importance (SCI) of the Natura 2000 Network.

According to official data from the General Secretariat of Fisheries, these vessels spent a total of 4,811 hours trawling in this protected area, which aims to guarantee the survival of species and habitats.

Of the total of these 17 vessels, it can be deduced that six are from Menorca, as there is a fleet based in Ciutadella and Mahón, others come from Mallorcan ports and the rest are Spanish vessels, but it is not known where they come from. 

According to an analysis by the organization Oceana, three quarters of the vessels that fished with bottom trawls in Spain in 2022 did so at some point in protected marine areas. Thus, 673 vessels, out of the 887 vessels engaged in bottom trawling in Spanish territory, fished in theoretically protected enclaves. In other words, they fished with gear that was highly damaging to ecosystems in areas legally designated to protect their biodiversity. Despite being protected on paper, these areas do not have management plans that guarantee real protection against bottom trawling and, where they exist, they are inadequate.

These official data from Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS), satellite tracking devices for fishing vessels over 12 meters in length, reveal that last year Spanish marine protected areas were exposed to an estimated minimum of 178,223 hours of bottom trawling, with some areas recording tens of thousands of hours of bottom trawling.

These terminals, also known as blue boxes, automatically send information at least every two hours about the vessel and its activity, such as date, time, registration number, position, speed, course and gear type. The Administration uses these signals to monitor fishing activity and improve its management.

Some of the marine protected areas most affected by trawling in Spain are Sur de Almería - Seco de los Olivos (Almeria), Valles submarinos del Escarpe de Mazarrón (Region of Murcia), Canal de Menorca (Balearic Islands) and Sistema de cañones submarinos de Avilés (Asturias), 1 all of which lack adequate management to protect them from the threat of trawling.

It should be remembered that bottom trawling consists of moving nets along the seabed, like bulldozers that sweep up everything in their path. In the Mediterranean, these nets can reach 220 meters in length, which is the equivalent of more than four Olympic-size swimming pools.