Greece ‘First in Europe’ to Ban Bottom Trawling in All Marine Protected Areas

Greece will ban bottom trawling in all of its marine protected areas by 2030, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Tuesday, making the the country the first in Europe to announce such a ban.

Speaking at the Our Ocean Conference in Athens, he said the country would become the first to bring an end to the damaging fishing practice in these protected areas. It will be banned in Greece’s three national marine parks, one of which is the largest in the East Mediterranean Sea, by 2026 with the rest following before the end of the decade.

Bottom trawling involves dragging heavy fishing nets across the ocean floor, which can destroy habitats and even release carbon into the ocean and atmosphere.

Though there are restrictions in place throughout Europe, this is the first outright ban that includes all of a single country’s marine protected areas.

Mitsotakis said Greece will spend €780 million to protect its “diverse and unique marine ecosystems.”

He told delegates at the conference in Athens: “We’ve established two additional marine national parks, one in the Ionian and one in the Aegean, increasing the size of our marine protected areas by 80 percent and covering one-third of our marine territorial waters.”

“We will ban bottom trawling in our national parks by 2026 and in all marine protected areas by 2030,” he reported.

He said he would also establish a state-of-the-art surveillance system, including drones, to enforce the ban.

The proposed Ionian marine national park will cover almost 12 percent of Greek territorial waters, safeguarding sea mammals like sperm whales, striped dolphins, and the vulnerable Mediterranean monk seal and the South Aegean MPA, which covers 6.61 percent of Greek territorial waters.

However, the Athens government’s decision to go ahead with two new marine parks in the Aegean and Ionian has stirred up tensions with its historical rival Turkey. Ankara’s foreign ministry warned Greece last week that the proposal in the Aegean lay in a disputed area and that the initiative was “politically motivated.”

NGOs welcome Greece’s bottom trawling initiative

Conservationists welcomed the announcement and said they hoped the move would create a “domino effect” for other EU countries to do the same.

Nicholas Fournier, the campaign director for marine protection at the international conservation group Oceana, said: “Everyone was expecting France or Germany or Spain to step up. The fact that Greece is championing this ban on bottom trawling is surprising but very welcome.”

“We hope this creates a domino effect on other European countries to do the same,” Fournier said. “The pressure is on France, as it hosts the UN oceans conference next year.”

Oceana, along with other NGOs, the Marine Conservation Society and Seas at Risk, has urged the EU to take tougher action against members that still allow bottom trawling in their marine protected areas.