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Wed 5 Jul, 2006 10:23 pm
In Europe, artificial reefs have been mainly empolyed to protect habitat. Particularly so in the Mediterranean where reefs have been sunk as physical obstacles to stop illegal trawling, which is destroying seagrass beds and the marine life that depends on them. "If you want to protect areas of the seabed, you need something that will stop trawlers dead in their tracks," says Dr. Antony Jensen of the Southampton Oceanography Centre.
Could you tell me what "stop trawlers dead in their tracks" means, please? Thanks.
To stop something "dead in its tracks" is an idiomatic expression meaning to stop it immediately and decisively from doing whatever it is doing at the moment.
Thank you very much, Merry Andrew
stop trawlers dead in their tracks
"Trawler" can mean the fishing boat that trawls, or the men who fish from those boats.Trawlers use nets or other gear, usually at considerable depth, to collect their catch. Unfortunately, many of these means haul in other species which are of no interest to the trawler, and are thrown back, damaged or dead.
Stopping trawlers dead in their tracks would mean to outlaw these methods of catching fish, and really enforce that law which, unfortunately, is unlikely to happen any time soon.
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