Spain Bans Destructive Bottom Trawling in Cabliers Bank | Oceana

Victory | July 31, 2025

Spain Bans Destructive Bottom Trawling in Cabliers Bank

Spain banned all bottom fishing in Cabliers Bank, a biologically rich area in the Alboran Sea within the Western Mediterranean. The new protections include a prohibition on bottom trawling, a destructive fishing method that involves dragging heavy nets along the seafloor that bulldoze everything in their path. These rules will safeguard an estimated 400,000-year-old coral reef first documented by Oceana in 2011. Oceana’s expedition and campaign were critical to convincing the Spanish government to protect this unique biodiversity hotspot. The reef supports an extraordinary diversity of life, including deep-sea corals, sponges, and commercially important species that are currently overexploited.