‘Hoovered’ up from the deep: 33,000 hours of seabed trawling revealed in protected UK waters

A trawler lowers its nets. ‘Industrial fishing is designed to kill marine life as efficiently as possible,’ says Oceana UK. Photograph: Andy Myatt/Alamy

Industrial vessels suspected of using a harmful fishing method known as bottom trawling spent more than 33,000 hours in British marine protected areas last year, a new analysis of satellite data shows.

Ten of these vessels, primarily from the EU, were responsible for a quarter of this activity in offshore protected areas, according to Oceana UK, a conservation group.