More than 1.3 million tonnes of fish taken from UK’s marine protected areas since 2020, new analysis reveals

Between 2020 and 2024, 1.347 million tonnes of fish were caught inside the UK’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) according to new analysis by Greenpeace of official data. That’s enough fish to fill around 500 Olympic swimming pools.

UK MPAs are designated to protect marine wildlife and fragile ocean habitats but, as the analysis of European fisheries landings data [1] proves, these designations are currently nothing more than lines on a map. 

Of the 1.3 million tonnes, over 1 million were caught by pelagic trawlers – vessels that use enormous nets up to 240 metres wide and 50 metres long, scooping up everything in their path. 250,000 tonnes were caught by bottom-towed gear, including bottom trawlers, which drag heavy, destructive nets across the seabed, devastating marine ecosystems. [2]

Campaigners say the findings expose the stark gap between political promises and reality at sea. Large-scale industrial fishing continues to devastate areas that are supposed to be safe havens – even though the UK government has had the powers to change this since Brexit.

Chris Thorne, Senior Oceans Campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: 

“Just beneath the surface of our seas, right here in the UK, lies an extraordinary world of marine life – from shoals of colourful fish to dolphins to seahorses – but it’s facing a level of vandalism greater than we’d ever accept on land.

“The government claims vast areas of UK waters are protected, but the reality is a national scandal. Since 2020, more than 1.3 million tonnes of fish have been caught inside the UK’s so-called marine protected areas. 

“Protection means nothing if these hulking industrial trawlers are allowed to devastate crucially important areas. MPAs should be safe havens where our incredible marine life and ecosystems can recover and thrive. Instead they remain protected only on paper and precious ocean life is being pushed to the brink.”

A process to ban bottom trawling across the MPA network began in 2020 [3], and this analysis highlights the cost of delay. Various governments have dragged their feet in implementing it, allowing industrial vessels to continue dragging heavy, destructive nets across the seabed, devastating marine ecosystems. Almost one fifth of the total catch (250,000 tonnes) was caught using bottom-towed gear. 

Even if a bottom trawling ban was fully implemented, the revelation that 1 million tonnes of fish caught was caught in MPAs using pelagic gear – which would not be restricted by current bottom-trawling proposals – makes it clear that marine life and habitats inside UK MPAs would remain exposed and vulnerable.

Chris Thorne continued: 

“Since leaving the EU, the UK government has had full powers to properly protect our marine protected areas – a measure that’s needed not only for marine life itself but also to support local fishing communities. Yet many remain little more than lines on a map.

“Banning bottom trawling in some sites would be a step forward, but other destructive fishing methods would still be allowed and much of the MPA network would remain vulnerable.

“If the government wants to show real leadership on ocean protection, it must stop all industrial fishing in UK MPAs and work with other states to properly protect 30% of the wider Atlantic Ocean by 2030, including the Sargasso Sea. This is the only way to ensure our oceans can recover and sustain future generations.”

ENDS

Notes to editor

[1] UK fisheries data: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-sea-fisheries-annual-statistics-report-2024 

EU fisheries data: https://stecf.ec.europa.eu/data-dissemination/fdi_en

[2] 250,000 tonnes were caught by bottom-towed gear, including beam trawls, demersal trawls, dredges and demersal seines. These are all covered by the proposed MPA bans on bottom-towed gear. 

[3] The Marine protected areas process has 4 stages. We are currently in the middle of Stage 3. 

• Stage 1, which began in 2020, focused on the initial review and introduction of byelaws for four offshore MPAs to protect specific features. 
• Stage 2 targeted 13 specific MPAs, primarily focusing on protecting “rock, and rocky and biogenic reef features” from the impacts of bottom-towed fishing gear. 
• Stage 3 aims to manage remaining fishing activities in MPAs not covered by Stage 1 or 2, and will cover parts of 42 further MPAs. We are currently waiting for the MMO to release the results of their analysis of the consultation on this stage.
• Stage 4 covers the impacts of fishing on MPAs with highly mobile species features. These are two MPAs protecting harbour porpoise, and three MPAs protecting certain bird species. The consultation on this stage is still to come. 

Methodology: 

A full brief on the method used in this analysis is available here

A breakdown of the data is available on request.

Video content:

Archive footage from 2020-2024 featuring supertrawlersfishing inside UK MPAs and supertrawlers that have previously fished inside UKMPAs plus Greenpeace supertrawler/ MPA protests: https://media.greenpeace.org/Detail/27MZIFJVQZYOW

February 2026 footage from Greenpeace UK’s latest monitoring tour of UKMPAs in the English Channel is available for download via WeTransfer here.

Key findings: 

• 1.347 million tonnes of fish were caught inside UK offshore MPAs
• More than 1 million tonnes were caught using pelagic gear, which will not be restricted by proposed bottom-trawling bans
• 250,000 tonnes of fish caught using bottom-towed fishing gear
• EU vessels caught around 800,000 tonnes, while UK vessels caught around 545,000 tonnes