What is bottom trawling gear?
Bottom trawls have a footrope (the bottom lip of the net) that can span over 150 feet in width and can be lined with heavy rollers or rockhoppers more than 30 inches in diameter. The larger trawls can drag over a half-acre swath with each pass over an area. The damage done by even a single pass of a trawl can be very extensive. Trawls with heavy, large-diameter rollers and rockhoppers have been shown to displace 19 percent of boulders (some weighing 25 tons each). The size of trawl gear and frequency of its use in an area can increase the severity of the damage. Before the mid-1980s, rocky, complex habitats were relatively undamaged, because fishermen kept bottom trawls out of areas where structures such as corals, boulders or pinnacles might snag the trawl net. Large, heavy roller and rockhopper gear, in combination with more powerful fishing boats and other technical innovations, now allow bottom trawls to access virtually all areas of the continental shelves and deeper continental s
