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For the fishing industry, the unreachable is now within reach. Today's trawlers are capable of fishing deep-sea canyons and rough seafloor that was once avoided for fear of damaging nets, through advances in bottom trawl technology. To capture one or two target commercial species deep-sea bottom trawl fishing vessels drag huge nets armed with steel plates and heavy rollers across the seabed, plowing up and pulverizing everything in their path. More powerful engines, bigger nets, more precise mapping, and advanced navigational and fish-finding electronics have enabled fishing vessels to drag fishing gear across the ocean bottom as much as two kilometers in depth. Compared to life in shallow waters deep-sea fish live a very slow life and reproduce much slower. Fishing for deep-sea stocks has been compared to mining for minerals due to the reduced capacity of the stocks to withstand exploitation. Enlarge image

Virtual deep sea tour

Learn more about how our deep seas are under threat from bottom trawling.

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A slow growing fish that generally lives up to around 150 years old. They reach sexual maturity at 20 to 30 years. These fish live in shoals and inhabit the deep waters of every ocean. High seas fleets have dramatically reduced orange roughy numbers as new fishing technologies provide access to deeper and more distant waters. Originally, the fish was known as “slime head” but it was renamed the more marketable “orange roughy” to appeal to consumers. Today, orange roughy can be bought in fish markets around the world. Along with other deep sea fish species, orange roughy can even be bought online at Amazon.com. Enlarge image

Deep sea life

View some of the weird and wonderful creatures that live deep below the surface of the ocean.

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