How does destructive bottom trawling affect the commercial and recreational fishing activities?
Some commercially and recreationally important fish and crustaceans have shown greater survival rates in the healthy, structurally complex habitats. Lingcod use high-relief bottom to lay their eggs. Juvenile Atlantic cod show far greater survival rates where the seabed is complex and offers protection from predators and strong currents. Adult haddock and most groundfish rely on seafloor life found in complex habitats as their major source of food. Without complex habitats, populations of the fish that depend on structured habitats may suffer population declines or may take longer to recover from other threats such as overfishing.
