Two international fisheries-resources conservation bodies plan to provisionally ban dragnet fishing in deep ocean waters surrounding Antarctica and in the Northwestern Atlantic, Japanese officials said.
The bans were imposed in light of scientists' warnings that bottom trawling has disrupted oceanic ecosystems, according to the officials, who are familiar with recent discussions at the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources and the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization.
In 2004, over 1,100 scientists from 70 countries, including Japan, called for a provisional ban on bottom trawling.