Chile Bans Bottom Trawling In Vulnerable Areas
Rhonda Moniz
January 29, 2013
Chile has become the first country to ban bottom trawling by passing the Chilean Fisheries Law. The law bans bottom trawling in the country's vulnerable marine ecosystems, including the precautionary closure of all seamounts in Chile, and establishes a system in which all fishing quotas will be based on scientific recommendation. It requires the implementation of reduction plans for by-catch and discards for every commercial fishery. The new law bans bottom trawling in all vulnerable marine ecosystems and includes the immediate closure of all 118 of Chile's seamounts to the destructive practice of bottom trawling, covering an area of 150,000 square kilometers. Seamounts are underwater mountain ranges where nutrient-rich water up wells from the deep, fueling large ecosystems.