Decompression

Bottom-trawling nets rip hundreds of tons of animals out of the ocean, squeezing some of them so tightly against the sides of the nets that their eyes bulge and burst out of their skulls. For hours, trapped fish are dragged along the ocean floor along with netted rocks, coral, and ocean debris. The scales of many fish are completely ground off. When hauled out of the water, the surviving fish undergo excruciating decompression. The extreme pressure change ruptures their swimbladders, pops out their eyes, and pushes their esophagi and stomachs out through their mouths.