[Zardoz]

You'd be hard-pressed to come up with a more shameful, destructive way to exploit natural resources than bottom trawling. Pardon the pun, but how low can we go? Bottom trawling is just disgusting:

Call to halt deep sea 'plunder'

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '2')006 UN talks failed to implement a ban on the method, which uses heavy nets and crushing rollers on the sea floor.

"Eliminating global subsidies would render these fleets economically unviable and would relieve tremendous pressure on overfishing and vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems," said Dr Rashid Sumaila, of the University of British Columbia.

[Loki]

Yep, bottom trawling is the equivalent of strip mining or clear cutting. Unconscionable. Thankfully this practice probably won't last much longer (only as long as the cheap oil), but by then it will probably be too late for many species. As much as we are fucking up the land and atmosphere, it pales to what we are doing to sea life.

Some waters off Oregon were closed to bottom trawling in 2005, but not enough. It should be prohibited everywhere.