UK proposes wider ban on destructive bottom trawling
A ban on a "destructive" type of fishing that drags large nets along the seafloor could be extended across English waters, the government has said.
The proposal would expand the the prohibition of bottom trawling from 18,000km2 to 30,000km2 (around 11,500 sq miles) of the UK's offshore areas that are already designated as protected. The plan is subject to a 12-week industry consultation.
The announcement comes as a UN Ocean Conference begins on Monday in France, and amid warnings from Sir David Attenborough that bottom trawling is destroying areas of the seabed and marine life.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed said "without urgent action our oceans will be irreversibly destroyed".
Speaking before the summit, Sir David told Prince William he was "appalled" by the fishing method.
The naturalist's latest documentary Ocean With David Attenborough showed new footage of a bottom trawling net bulldozing through silt on the seafloor and scooping up species indiscriminately.
Last week, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee renewed calls to ban bottom trawling, dredging and mining for aggregates on the seabed in what are known as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
The extension proposed by the government would cover 41 of the UK's 178 MPAs, and would protect rare marine animals and the delicate seabed they rely upon.
It says it has carried out detailed assessments into the harms caused to habitats and species.
A 12-week consultation will run until 1 September and will seek the views of the marine and fishing industry.
Ariana Densham, head of oceans at Greenpeace UK, said the consultation was "ultimately a long-overdue completion of a process started by the previous government".
The Wildlife Trust said it hoped the extended ban would be put in place "rapidly".
It would be a "win-win for both nature and the climate," added the trust's director of policy and public affairs, Joan Edwards.
Pressure is also building for more countries to ratify the High Seas Treaty at the Ocean Conference in Nice.
The treaty was agreed by 193 countries two years ago to put 30% of the ocean into protected areas.
The treaty will not come into force until it is ratified by 60 countries, with the current number standing at 28. The UK is among those countries that has yet to ratify.
Is bottom trawl fishing bad for the environment?
Shipwrecks 'sanctuary' for fish escaping trawlers
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
an hour ago
- Wall Street Journal
Far-Right Israeli Ministers Sanctioned by U.K., Canada and Others
Five Western countries, including the U.K. and Canada, imposed sanctions against two senior far-right Israeli cabinet members on Tuesday, saying they incited violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, a move that highlights the growing divide between Israel and some of its Western allies. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir will have their assets frozen and will be banned from entering the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway, the countries said in a rare joint statement.
Fast Company
an hour ago
- Fast Company
OpenAI and Anthropic are getting cozy with government. What could possibly go wrong?
While the world and private enterprise are adopting AI rapidly in their workflows, government isn't far behind. The U.K. government has said early trials of AI-powered productivity tools can shave two weeks of labor off a year's work, and AI companies are adapting to that need. More than 1,700 AI use cases have been recorded in the U.S. government, long before Elon Musk's DOGE entered the equation and accelerated AI adoption throughout the public sector. Federal policies introduced in April on AI adoption and procurement have pushed this trend further. It's unsurprising that big tech companies are rolling out their own specialist models to meet that demand. Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, announced last week a series of models tailored for use by government employees. These include features such as the ability to handle classified materials and understand some of the bureaucratic language that plagues official documents. Anthropic has said its models are already deployed by agencies 'at the highest level of U.S. national security, and access to these models is limited to those who operate in such classified environments.' The announcement follows a similar one by OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, which released its own government-tailored AI models in January to 'streamline government agencies' access to OpenAI's frontier models.' But AI experts worry about governments becoming overly reliant on AI models, which can hallucinate information, inherit biases that discriminate against certain groups at scale, or steer policy in misguided directions. They also express concern over governments being locked into specific providers, who may later increase prices that taxpayers would be left to fund. 'I worry about governments using this kind of technology and relying on tech companies, and in particular, tech companies who have proven to be quite untrustworthy,' says Carissa Véliz, who researches AI ethics at the University of Oxford. She points out that the generative AI revolution so far, sparked by the November 2022 release of ChatGPT, has seen governments scrambling to retrofit rules and regulations in areas such as copyright to accommodate tech companies after they've bent those rules. 'It just shows a power relationship there that doesn't look good for government,' says Véliz. 'Government is supposed to be the legislator, the one making the rules and enforcing the rules.' Beyond those moral concerns, she also worries about the financial stakes involved. 'There's just a sheer dependency on a company that has financial interests, that is based in a different country, in a situation in which geopolitics is getting quite complicated,' says Véliz, explaining why countries outside the United States might hesitate to sign on to use ClaudeGov or ChatGPT Gov. It's the same argument the U.S. uses about overreliance on TikTok, which has Chinese ties, amid fears that figures like Donald Trump could pressure U.S.-based firms to act in politically motivated ways. OpenAI didn't respond to Fast Company 's request for comment. A spokesperson for Anthropic says the company is committed to transparency, citing published work on model risks, a detailed system card, and collaborations with the U.S. and U.K. governments to test AI systems. Some fear that AI companies are securing 'those big DoD bucks,' as programmer Ashe Dryden put it on Mastodon, and could perpetuate that revenue by fostering dependency on their specific models. The rollout of these models reflects broader shifts in the tech landscape that increasingly tie government, national security and technology together. For example, defense tech firm Anduril recently raised $5 billion in a new funding round that values the company at over $30 billion. Others have argued that the release of these government-specific models by AI companies 'isn't [about] national security. This is narrative laundering,' as one LinkedIn commenter put it. The idea is that these moves echo the norms already set by big government rather than challenging them, potentially reinforcing existing issues. 'I've always been a sceptic of a single supplier for IT services, and this is no exception,' says Andres Guadamuz, an AI researcher at the University of Sussex. Guadamuz believes the development of government-specific AI models is still in its early phase, and urges decisionmakers to pause before signing deals. 'Governments should keep their options open,' he says. 'Particularly with a crowded AI market, large entities such as the government can have a better negotiating position.'
Associated Press
2 hours ago
- Associated Press
UK announces $19 billion investment in first major nuclear plant since the 1990s
LONDON (AP) — Britain will invest 14.2 billion pounds ($19 billion) to build a new nuclear station that will reduce the U.K.'s reliance on volatile international fossil fuel markets, the government said Tuesday. Officials said the investment will go into building the new Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk, on England's eastern coast, saying it will generate enough low-carbon electricity to power 6 million homes when it becomes operational in the 2030s. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said previous governments had dithered and delayed over nuclear power. No new nuclear plant has been opened in the U.K. since Sizewell B in 1995. 'Having our own energy in this country that we control, gives us security, gives us independence, so (Russian President Vladimir) Putin can't put his boot on our throat,' Starmer said. 'And it means that we can control the prices in a way that we haven't been able to in recent years, which has meant very high prices for businesses, for households and for families.' The government also announced that Rolls-Royce is the preferred bidder to develop a number of small modular reactors, which it said can power around 3 million homes and help fuel power-hungry industries like AI data centers. The Treasury said building Sizewell C will create 10,000 jobs. The investment announced Tuesday is in addition to 3.7 billion pounds the U.K. government already committed to the project. Nuclear power is seen as an increasingly important electricity source as the government seeks to decarbonize Britain's electricity grid by 2030, replacing fossil fuels with low-carbon power. The U.K. also wants to reduce its dependence on imported oil and gas, especially in light of soaring energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But critics have said nuclear plants are far more expensive and slow to build compared with renewable energy options such as solar and wind power. Environmental groups have also argued Sizewell C will damage local nature reserves that host wildlife like otters and marsh birds. About 300 people joined a protest against the development at the Suffolk site over the weekend. 'Net zero is supposed to happen by 2030 — there is no way this is going to be completed by then,' said Jenny Kirtley, a local resident who chairs the campaign group Together Against Sizewell C.
