Off the south Devon coast lies Skerries Bank & Surrounds, a Marine Conservation Zone stretching from Salcombe to Torcross.

It’s the offshore portion of this site that is now in the spotlight for new protection measures. Though small, this area is home to some incredible but vulnerable marine features, including rocky reefs and subtidal sand and coarse sediment.

These habitats support a rich mix of sea life, including mussels, brittlestars, flatfish, and a spiny lobster population which is recovering after years of overfishing. The rocky reefs are especially important as shelter and breeding grounds for spiny lobster.

Despite being a protected area, bottom-towed fishing gear continues to cause huge damage to the seabed and threaten recovery of these habitats and species. The MMO consultation is considering banning bottom trawling and all spiny lobster removal in this Marine Conservation Zone, which would be a great step forward.

From Torquay, if you venture 20km out to sea, you'll find the East of Start Point Marine Conservation Zone.

This zone is home to a wide range of infaunal species (those that live in the sediment) - including worms, mussels, and bivalves - as well as being a nursery ground for commercially important fish like lemon sole, sand eels, mackerel, thornback ray, and spotted ray.

Using bottom towed gear is the most common fishing method:
Beam trawls: 719 records/year
Bottom otter trawls: 675 records/year
Dredges: used mostly in the south and southeast of the site

These methods capture all marine life in its path, even though they’re only aiming for one or two species. This is incredibly destructive towards the seabed and marine life – with 75% of marine life that’s caught then being thrown away.

The consultation is considering banning bottom trawling at this site.

The northern part of this offshore Marine Protected Area is found off the coast of Hartland in Devon, with the rest of the site stretching into Cornish waters.

Designated in 2019, this site protects seabed types that support a rich community of bottom-dwelling species, such as polychaete worms, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, anemones, and razor clams. These habitats play a vital role in marine ecosystem functioning, including nutrient cycling, sediment stability and supporting food webs.

This site has high levels of bottom towed fishing activity, particularly from:
Beam trawls (most frequently used, 2,564 records/year)
Bottom otter trawls (2,163 records/year)
Towed dredges (727 records/year)

Bottom towed gear is designed to drag across the seabed to catch shellfish and fish that live near the bottom of the sea, but this disturbs the sediment and damages the habitat. The MMO consultation is proposing to prohibit the use of bottom towed fishing gear throughout the site.

This Marine Conservation Zone is found 15km northwest of Lundy Island and protects subtidal coarse sediment, a dynamic seabed made up of coarse sand, gravel, and pebbles. It supports a wide range of life, from bristle worms and Venus clams to small crabs and the pea urchin. These coarse sediments are shaped by strong tides and wave action, creating a naturally unstable but biodiverse marine habitat.

The MMO consultation states that bottom towed gear poses a significant risk to this Marine Conservation Zone due to its capacity to erode and penetrate the sediment. Even if bottom trawling is not widely used at the site now, it would have very damaging impacts if it were to be used at this site in future, which is why the consultation proposes prohibiting the use of bottom towed fishing gear across the site.

In his latest natural world film, Ocean, Sir David Attenborough has thrust this story onto the world stage. Together we can stop this destructive activity in seabed Marine Protected Areas.  

Time is running out - there are just a few weeks left to tell the MMO and Minister Hardy that you support measures to ban bottom trawling in seabed Marine Protected Areas, and these must be put in place as soon as possible. 

Use our form to send an email to the MMO as a response to the consultation before the deadline on 29 September 2025. 

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