Lerøy Havfisk trawl fleet fishes with bottom trawls and predominantly catches their catches in the Barents Sea and north of Svalbard. This fishery is considered to be one of the best regulated fisheries in the world, and most of it is certified by an independent third party (MSC) as sustainable fishing.

Bottom trawling takes place in the same areas year after year, mostly in large deep or already well-established fields and in fields with generally low levels of organic material, with gravel and sandy bottoms, where there are few sediments that bind CO2.

• Norwegian bottom trawling takes place to a large extent in areas where there is little sediment that binds CO2, such as on gravel and sandy bottoms.
• In Norwegian waters, fishing mostly takes place at great depths, so to the extent that sediments / CO2 are swirled up, it is likely that this will remain in the depths.
• Norwegian trawling takes place in the same areas, which according to the article reduces the annual effect of possible release of CO2
• Large sea areas are already protected in the Norwegian economic zone through voluntary protection of areas where there had previously been no trawling activity (the Greenpeace agreement) and the Arctic Agreement.

To minimize the impact on the seabed Lerøy Havfisk use rubber balls (bobbins) to keep the trawlbag at the buttom, rubber bobbins is less damaging to the seabed than steel bobbins.  In addition Lerøy Havfisk use semipelagic doors insted of buttomthrawl doors, semipelagic doors weight less and put less force on the seabed.

To avoid catching small fish Lerøy Havfisk use a sorting grid, which sort smallfish out of the trawlbag. Different sensors on the bag give indication how much fish that is caught.

Large sea areas (more than 40%) in the Norwegian economic zone are already voluntarily protected through an agreement to refrain from fishing in areas where there had previously been no trawling activity.

We have also committed ourselves not to increase trawling activity in the vulnerable areas that become available when the ice retreats due to climate change, until research and management have mapped the bottom conditions, vulnerability and opportunities for sustainable fishing. This is a result of good cooperation between NGOs, the fishing industry and the administration.