These could provide excellent substitutes to industrial products, which contain environmentally damaging substances. In this area, more than in many others, only the imagination is the limit. The challenge of finding technological answers is yours. Fishing itself may have a negative effect on the environment. Development of fishing technology is also aimed at developing gear and techniques that minimise negative effects, not only on other fish species, but also on other animals, like sea birds and sea mammals, that are caught incidentally in fishing operations.
Fishing can have adverse effect on marine benthic habitats.
This is particularly severe on slow growing organisms like coral reefs that may need decades or centuries to rebuild after having been destroyed by fishing activity. Different types of bottom trawling are most likely to cause effects of this kind, effects that can only be avoided through closing areas of sensitive habitats for trawl fisheries as has recently been done for deep water coral areas along the Norwegian coast. The fisheries sector itself should play a leading role in reducing pollution of the ocean, including dumping of garbage and used fishing gear as well as emission of engine combustion products. In future development of fishing methods, fisheries management should therefore encourage the use of energy efficient fishing practices. These are fishing nets made from non-degradable materials, and which will continue to fish when they are lost at sea.