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| Analytical Overview |
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| PAGE conducted a global survey on the extent of benthic trawling grounds. The distribution of trawling grounds (both swept and unswept) for 24 countries for which sufficient data were available was mapped. These countries represent about 41 percent of the world’s continental shelves. Trawling grounds in these countries encompass 8.8 million km², of which about 5.2 million km² are located on the continental shelves, or some 57 percent of the total continental shelf area of these countries. These findings indicate that this activity disturbs the vast majority of the world’s continental shelf benthos to some extent. |
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| Known Trawling Grounds of the World |
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Map Projection |
Interrupted Goode's Homolosine |
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Notes |
Data reflect preliminary results of a partial global trawling survey. Data are incomplete for many areas. |
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Map Description |
Our lack of knowledge of sea bottom habitats and species distribution on the world’s continental shelves precludes most direct measures of changes in these environments. There have been only site-specific studies of geophysical characterization or mapping of near-shore benthic habitat. One way of inferring the level of human modification to these habitats is to identify the areas where destructive activities take place. One of the most direct and globally pervasive threats facing the soft sediment benthic communities on continental shelves around the world is bottom trawling. This map shows the general areas where bottom trawling is known to occur, for countries where such information was available. Trawling grounds are areas of the ocean where commercial trawling, legal or illegal, is prevalent. Some areas in a trawling ground may be repeatedly swept each year, some perhaps never. |
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| Citation: |
| World Resources Institute - PAGE, 2000 |
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| Sources: |
- McAllister, D.E., J. Baquero, G. Spiller, and R. Campbell. 1999. "A Global Trawling Ground Survey". Unpublished paper prepared for PAGE
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