As per the British researchers the U.K.’s trawl fishing fleet works 17 times harder to catch the same amount of fish as it did when its boats were powered by sail. Scientists from the University of York and Britain’s Marine Conservation Society told that they used government data on the amount of fish caught and the size and number of boats involved to analyze the change in fish stocks since 1889.
Ruth Thurstan of the University of York, the study’s lead author, informed that the findings show trawl fish landings peaked in 1937, was 4 times higher than today’s figures, and the availability of bottom-living fish to the fleet has fallen by 94 percent. She also told that trawl fishing fleet has far less success than its sail-powered equivalent of the late 19th century because of the sharp declines in fish abundance.
Professor Callum Roberts said that this research clearly shows the state of U.K. bottom fisheries is far worse than even the most pessimistic of assessments currently in circulation.
