Chile Protects Ocean Habitat and Wildlife, Bans Bottom Trawling in 98 Percent of Its Seas - Oceana

Victory | December 15, 2017

Chile Protects Ocean Habitat and Wildlife, Bans Bottom Trawling in 98 Percent of Its Seas

Liesbeth van der Meer, Oceana’s leader in Chile, sat next to Chile’s Undersecretary of Fisheries, Pablo Berazaluce, as the country announced – in a joint statement with Oceana – that the country would ban bottom trawling in 98 percent of Chile’s waters (specifically in its Exclusive Economic Zone, or EEZ). This decision puts Chile at the forefront of countries stopping this destructive fishing practice, in which large weighted nets are dragged across the ocean floor, clear-cutting and destroying ocean habitat while also netting tons of other life not targeted by fishermen. This win follows several others protecting Chile’s ocean habitat. In fact, the country has now made 13 percent of its waters “no take” marine areas, up from less than one percent when Oceana began campaigning on these issues.