How Seafood is Caught: Midwater Trawling

Midwater trawlers vary in size—from small ships to large factory vessels. Large industrial ships pull gigantic nets through the open ocean and can catch an entire school of fish—spanning the size of five football fields—at once. These trawls don't impact the seafloor when used in the midwater zone. Setting these trawls on schooling fish using streamer lines to scare away seabirds and avoiding areas with an abundance of marine mammals can help ensure low levels of bycatch in midwater trawl fisheries.