‘A golden opportunity’: UK unveils plan to ban bottom trawling in more marine protected areas

Conservationists are celebrating a proposal from the UK government to ban bottom trawling in dozens more marine protected areas (MPAs). 

MPAs are sections of the ocean that a country aims to protect because they are of particular ecological importance. Bottom trawling - a destructive type of fishing that drags weighted nets across the seafloor - is allowed in many of these sensitive areas.