A ban on bottom trawling in international waters failed to get United Nations support Thursday, despite negotiations that lasted long into the night.

The decision has angered Canadian environmentalists, who said this type of fishing destroys underwater ecosystems. Bottom trawling involves dragging a giant net along the ocean floor to scoop up fish.

Environmentalists on Thursday blamed Iceland for blocking the ban. They said other countries, like Canada, have spoken out against a full ban but always showed a willingness to negotiate.

"It's a tragedy that destructive practices are being allowed to continue today after days of talk by world leaders about high seas fishing reform," Bill Wareham of the Vancouver-based David Suzuki Foundation said in a news release.

Instead of a full-out ban, countries involved in the trawling talks have agreed to increase protection measures, acting under the guidance of regional fisheries management organizations.

The organizations will decide how environmental assessments should be done and how enforcement should be carried out.

In unregulated waters, national governments are asked to police their own vessels. 

Countries should apply the same standards they would under the regional organizations. If it's found boats are harming the ocean, governments would then apply restrictions at their own discretion.

Canadian government pleased

Canada is happy with the draft resolution that emerged from the talks. The UN General Assembly is expected to adopt it Dec. 7.

"We have the opportunity now collectively to clean up what's been going on in the ocean for a number of years," federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn told the Canadian Press.

"The question now is will everyone live up to commitments made?" he added, speaking from Ottawa.

"And if not, we have all kinds of tools — force, the right of law, shame, isolation, pressure — you name it. If someone steps outside this collective agreement that we've made, life can be pretty miserable for them."

But Susanna Fuller of the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax said the UN decision allows trawlers to expand their operations and continue destroying the ocean floor.
  
"Essentially, it's the status quo," Fuller told Canadian Press in New York. 

"One of the huge problems that we have right now is flag states that are fishing irresponsibly on the high seas, and now those states can continue to fish the same way they've been fishing."

In October, the Canadian government announced it was opposed to a full ban.

A fleet of Canadian bottom trawlers operates in Canada's waters. The government is concerned that a ban on the high seas would eventually be expanded to include waters in Canada's jurisdiction.

With files from the Canadian Press