Longer Boats Painting

For generations, fisher people around the world have relied on healthy oceans for food. In this painting, women from Raja Ampat are out in canoes, fishing for their family's supper. They use gentle forms of fishing - hook and line and netting. Below the waterline, fish thrive among brilliantly colored coral reefs. But looming on the horizon we can make out the shape of a large commercial trawler boat. Bottom trawling has become the new way to fish. *bottom trawling became a popular method of fishing in the 1970s and is still done today in some parts of the world. Outfitted with huge weighted nets that drag along the bottom of the sea floor, trawlers scoop up enormous loads of fish and more. They also catch unwanted marine species like sea turtles and dolphins who get caught up in the fast-moving nets. Even if released, they often die. About 20% of each haul contains this unwanted catch. Additionally, bottom trawling destroys coral reefs - important habitat that provides food and protection for fish and other marine species.