The Radical party proposes a ban on bottom trawling to protect the marine environment. In order to preserve the ocean’s ecosystem and reduce the environmental impact of fishing, the Radical party is proposing a ban on bottom trawling. This was announced by party leader Martin Lidegaard at the People’s Meeting on Bornholm. Lidegaard emphasized the need to reduce nitrogen emissions from agriculture, polluted wastewater from cities and businesses, and to introduce a more sustainable fishing production. The party has planned three primary measures to be implemented over the next five years to reduce the environmental impact of fishing.
First and foremost, the use of bottom trawling gear, which damages the seabed and results in large amounts of unwanted fish being caught, must be stopped. Instead, the Radical party suggests replacing these destructive gear with modern floating shovels that do not damage the seabed to the same extent. To ensure that their proposal is feasible, the Radicals have collaborated with the Think Tank Sea, which estimates that the costs of implementing these changes will be around 50 million Danish kroner annually.
Martin Lidegaard considers this price modest compared to the damage currently being done to the ocean. He specifically highlights that for every kilogram of langoustines caught using current methods, around 200 kilograms of other living organisms on the seabed die. As another measure, the party proposes to convert langoustine fishing to the use of traps instead of bottom trawling gear.
The third and final measure in the Radical party’s proposal involves converting 30 percent of Danish marine areas into actual protected nature reserves by 2030. Martin Lidegaard acknowledges that there are already major challenges with the state of the marine environment and points out that urgent action is needed. Despite this effort, Lidegaard sees a lack of willingness to act from the government’s side, especially from the Minister of the Environment, Magnus Heunicke, and the Minister of Fisheries, who, according to him, have removed existing regulations instead of introducing new, more restrictive measures.