New report: protecting the Mediterranean deep sea from trawling is scientifically-backed and makes climate sense
Press Release Date: June 4, 2026
Location: Brussels
Contact:
Emily Fairless | email: efairless@oceana.org | tel.: +32 478 038 490
Brussels – Ahead of World Oceans Day (8 June), environmental organisations Oceana and MedReAct are releasing a new report, warning that destructive activities such as bottom trawling are threatening Mediterranean deep-sea ecosystems, weakening their ability to buffer climate impacts and to support marine life. The independent study was authored by scientists from Marche Polytechnic University (Italy). The organisations are urging the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) to extend the deep-sea trawl ban from 1000m currently to below at least 800m to protect them. This is scientifically-backed and would help the GFCM meet its international commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the GFCM 2030 Strategy.
Helena Álvarez, senior marine scientist at Oceana in Europe, said: “Mediterranean deep-sea ecosystems may be less visible, but they are no less critical in sheltering marine life, recovering overfished populations, and strengthening climate resilience in the region. We urge Mediterranean countries, and especially the EU, to strengthen protection of these fragile deep-sea habitats by extending the regional deep-sea trawl ban, and so put the GFCM at the forefront of deep-sea conservation.”
Oceana and MedReact are urging the GFCM Scientific Advisory Committee at its meeting in June (22-25th) to give a positive advice to extend the trawl ban, with a view to the GFCM making a proposal to do so at its annual meeting in October. Last year at the annual meeting, the environmental organisations criticised the GFCM for failing to take action on this.
Key messages of the report:
- Mediterranean deep-sea ecosystems are unique, supporting high biodiversity, including commercially important species.
- Deep-sea habitats store carbon long term and act as climate refugia for other marine life
- Their characteristics – slow-growing, long-lived – make them highly vulnerable to external stressors like climate change and destructive fishing like bottom trawling
- Bottom-contact fishing, like bottom trawling, is the main driver of their decline – degrading habitats, causing to some permanent damage and leading to the near collapse of others (bamboo coral – Isidella elongata)
- With the Mediterranean warming faster than the global ocean, climate change is accentuating pressure on them by reducing their resilience to its impacts and accelerating their decline
- Extending the deep-sea trawl ban from 1000m to below 600-800m would help protect Mediterranean deep-sea ecosystems.
Key reasons to extend the deep-sea trawl ban:
- It is the depth where most vulnerable marine ecosystems occur
- It would help recover threatened deep-sea species (like deep-sea sharks) and overfished and commercially important ones (like deep-water shrimps)
- It would help strengthen climate resilience of the Mediterranean sea.
Further, as well as making climate sense, extending the deep-sea trawl ban is backed by science. Pilot studies led by the GFCM in seven Mediterranean countries (Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Spain and Tunisia) have shown such an extension would have minimal costs for fishers. Further, Oceana’s analysis found minimal fishing activities occurring at these depths, whereas such a depth ban would protect an additional 100,000km2 of deep-sea area. To add to this, some countries are starting to enforce a trawl ban: France, Egypt and Montenegro recently announced one below 800 m depth.
Prof. Emanuela Fanelli, scientist from Marche Polytechnic University and one of the authors of the report, said: “Mediterranean deep-sea ecosystems, particularly those between 600 and 1,000 metres depth, act as long-term carbon reservoirs and, due to their relatively stable conditions, may also serve as climate refugia for certain marine species. Our findings clearly show that strengthening their protection is both scientifically justified and strategically essential.”
Domitilla Senni, executive director of MedReAct, said: “Global experience from fisheries management bodies shows a simple truth: precautionary limits on bottom trawling work. Protecting the Mediterranean deep sea from bottom trawling would prevent the risk of collapse of vulnerable species, persistent damage to fragile habitats, and organic carbon loss. Without proactive and precautionary measures, cumulative pressure from climate change and fishing activities can only accelerate ecosystems’ decline.”
Learn more:
Executive summary (available also in Arabic, French & Spanish)
Watch our video
