The Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) has supported a ban on bottom-trawling in Marine Protected Areas in its response to a public consultation.
DAUK submitted its response to the consultation held by the Marine Biodiversity Department of the Scottish Government alongside Green Scrubs Wales.
Writing to the consultation, Dr Matthew Lee, DAUK’s sustainability lead, Dr Maneha Sethi, chair of Green Scrubs Wales and DAUK committee member, highlighted the public health implications of failing to tackle the biodiversity crisis.
They wrote: “The concept of one health relates to the interlocked relationship between the health of the environment, animals and people; humanity cannot survive without a healthy natural world.”
They added: “We are deeply concerned to learn that in offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) all around the UK, the environmentally destructive practice of bottom trawling has been allowed to continue, as Oceana data analysis has revealed.
“Given the urgent and imminent nature of the climate and biodiversity crisis, and its threat to human health, we feel it is crucial that bottom trawling activities are fully excluded from MPAs, for the sake of public health.
“Bottom trawling can decimate huge swathes of seabed with very high rates of bycatch, and can release large quantities of blue carbon.
“As one of the most nature deplete countries in the world, the UK must cease such destructive practices in supposedly protected areas to allow nature to recover.
Read the submission in full below.
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