Black Foils Sailors Fight to Stop Harmful Ocean Trawling

A New Zealand sailing team called the Black Foils is using its fame to fight a fishing method that damages the ocean floor. The team's leaders, Blair Tuke and Peter Burling, also run a marine conservation group called Live Ocean. Together, they helped support a record-breaking swim down New Zealand's coast to raise awareness about bottom trawling. Bottom trawling is a practice where heavy nets are dragged across the seabed, destroying the plants and animals that live there.

The Black Foils compete in SailGP, a global sailing race series. In June, the team finished fifth at the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix near Portsmouth, England. It was only their second race of the season because their boat had to be almost completely rebuilt after a crash in Auckland in February. Despite the tough start, the team still made a big impact off the water.

Just before the race in Portsmouth, the Black Foils won the Better Planet award in SailGP's Impact League. The Impact League rewards teams that work on environmental and social causes alongside their racing. The judges praised the Black Foils for their role in a campaign called Swim4TheOcean. That campaign centered on a truly extraordinary journey by one determined swimmer.

An ultramarathon swimmer named Jono Ridler swam 1,367 kilometers down the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. He spent 90 days and 468 hours in the water to complete the journey. Tuke called it 'one of the greatest endurance feats of all time.' Ridler's swim was designed to draw attention to the harm caused by bottom trawling.

When Ridler finished his swim in Wellington in April, about 5,000 people came out to cheer for him. Many walked with him to New Zealand's parliament building, where he delivered a petition signed by 73,647 people demanding an end to bottom trawling. The massive crowd showed how deeply the campaign had moved people. It brought the issue of ocean protection into New Zealand's national conversation.

New Zealand is the only country that still bottom trawls seamounts in the South Pacific Ocean. Seamounts are underwater mountains that are home to a huge variety of sea life and are among the most important ocean habitats on Earth. Scientists say that bottom trawling causes serious and lasting damage to these ecosystems. A single trawl can wipe out corals and creatures that took thousands of years to grow.

A survey by WWF-New Zealand found that 47 percent of New Zealanders think bottom trawling is the biggest threat to the marine environment, and 90 percent support limiting the practice. In the United Kingdom, the government announced plans in June 2025 to ban bottom trawling in 41 Marine Protected Areas, though it rejected a full ban in September 2025. These numbers show that concern about trawling is growing around the world. Public pressure is pushing governments to act.

Tuke and Burling started Live Ocean in 2019 after seeing ocean damage while sailing in competitions around the world. The two sailors became 2016 Olympic gold medallists and 2017 America's Cup champions before deciding to use the 'power of sport' for something bigger. Tuke says his love for the ocean comes naturally, because New Zealand watches over the fourth-largest ocean space on Earth. He pushed hard for two years to make the Swim4TheOcean campaign a reality.

Despite all the energy the campaign created, the New Zealand government recently renewed a permit for a boat to keep trawling seamounts. In response, Live Ocean called for new trawling permits on seamounts to be stopped immediately, full protection for all New Zealand seamounts by 2027, and a government plan to move the fishing industry away from bottom trawling. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the environmental effects must be balanced with economic benefits. But seamount trawling makes up less than 7 percent of New Zealand's deepwater fisheries exports, making it a small part of the industry.

Tuke believes New Zealand's upcoming general election in November could be a turning point for ocean protection. He says the Black Foils are fully committed to continuing the campaign while also working to improve their results in SailGP races. 'We are committed to seeing it through and getting policy change in New Zealand,' he said. 'You don't want to just stop now with the work half done.'