BOSTON, Massachusetts, February 15, 2008 (ENS) - Bottom trawling, an industrial fishing method that drags large, heavy nets across the seafloor, stirs up huge, billowing plumes of sediment on shallow seafloors that can be seen from space.As a result of scientific studies showing that bottom trawling kills vast numbers of corals, sponges, fishes and other animals, this fishing method has been banned in a growing number of places.Now satellite images show that spreading clouds of mud remain suspended in the sea long after the trawler has passed. There are tens of thousands of trawlers worldwide. They fish for shrimp and finfishes. Some bottom trawling operations catch 20 pounds of "bykill" or "bycatch" for every pound of targeted species.

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