Vessel monitoring system (VMS)-based maps show that the most widespread gears used in the central Barents Sea are bottom trawl and lines (Figures 4–6). Bottom trawling produces abrasion on the seafloor.
Using VMS and logbook data it has been estimated that mobile bottom trawling techniques used by commercial fisheries in the 12 m+ vessel category have been deployed over approximately 91 010 km2 of the Barents Sea in 2018, corresponding to ca. 4.3% of the ecoregion's spatial extent (Figure 6). This figure excludes Russian fishing effort. The pressure is mainly concentrated close to the coastline and in the central Barents Sea.