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Environment Main Global Warming Natural Disasters Habitats FRESHWATER

Photo Gallery: Overfishing

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Bottom trawling—a form of net fishing that scrapes the ocean floor—often damages habitats by ripping up coral reefs. Now banned in many countries, bottom trawlers also collect large amounts of bycatch that is simply thrown back to sea or left to die. By some estimates, for every pound (0.5 kilograms) of seafood scooped up by a bottom-trawling net, there are 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of "bykill." Photograph by Brian Skerry