According to George Monbiot, fishing is “the most destructive of all private industries” (Attenborough’s Ocean is the film I’ve been waiting my whole career for – now the world must act on its message, 13 June). Have fossil fuel lobbyists finally got to him?
Monbiot is right to highlight our complacency with overfishing, but in our attempts to tackle industrial fishing’s worst abuses, especially unchecked bottom trawling, we should not demonise small‑scale fishers – our ocean’s most powerful custodians.
