A new analysis has revealed that supposedly protected British waters are being scoured by industrial trawlers, despite official claims that they safeguard fragile marine ecosystems.
Almost 40% of England’s seas are formally designated as marine protected areas, which the government says exist “to protect and recover rare threatened and important marine ecosystems … from damage caused by human activities”. However, official fisheries data from the four years to 2024 show that more than 1.3 million tonnes of fishes were taken from within these zones, leading campaigners to describe them as little more than cartographic abstractions.
According to Greenpeace UK’s examination of UK and EU fisheries records, over 1 million tonnes of fishes were caught in these areas by pelagic trawlers using enormous nets up to 240 metres wide and 50 metres long, sweeping through the water column and capturing anyone in their path. A further 250,000 tonnes were removed using bottom‑towed gear, including bottom trawlers that drag heavy nets across the seabed, destroying marine habitats and the communities of animals who live there.
Chris Thorne, senior oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said to the Guardian, “The government claims vast areas of UK waters are protected, but the reality is a national scandal… Protection means nothing if these hulking industrial trawlers are allowed to devastate crucially important areas. MPAs should be safe havens where our incredible marine life and ecosystems can recover and thrive. Instead, they remain protected only on paper and precious ocean life is being pushed to the brink.”Scientific findings and market responses have already signalled the severity of the crisis. A report in 2025 found that North Sea cod, Celtic Sea cod, Irish Sea whiting, Irish Sea herring, and North Sea and east English Channel horse mackerel were all at critically low levels, yet still overfished. In February 2026, the supermarket chain Waitrose suspended sales of mackerel after the Marine Conservation Society warned that the species was being overfished and facing potential population collapse.
