Greenpeace drops giant boulders into deep sea to save marine life
Environmental organisation Greenpeace has dropped nine giant boulders onto the seabed off England's east coast to protect deep-sea biodiversity. The move is aimed at disrupting bottom trawling by fishing vessels.
In bottom trawling, heavy nets are dragged along the seabed to catch fish. The method damages plants and species living underwater, putting deep-sea biodiversity at risk. Greenpeace is placing large boulders on the seabed to create a barrier against it.
Greenpeace says it has made 116 square kilometres of the Southern North Sea Marine Protected Area free of bottom trawling. It says years of meetings with politicians produced slow progress, so it dropped the boulders without permission as a last resort.
According to Greenpeace, scraping the seabed to collect fish is creating a new crisis. The method creates food shortages for many fish. Noise pollution from trawling also damages the hunting ability of the porpoise, an animal that looks like a dolphin or a shark.
A spokesperson for the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the country has strict laws to protect the marine environment. All marine activity should follow the law, the spokesperson said, and the safety of sea users must be considered.
The spokesperson added that harmful fishing has already been banned in more than 100 locations, and the government is considering tougher restrictions.
After dropping the two-tonne boulders, Greenpeace passed their locations to the authorities so charts could be updated and other vessels warned. The Marine Management Organisation has published details of the boulders' locations.
Greenpeace previously dropped 18 boulders off the Cornwall coast in 2022. The latest action continues that approach.
The organisation says bottom trawling destroys the habitat of animals and plants on the seabed and puts the entire deep-sea ecosystem at risk. It hopes the boulder barrier will stop trawlers from dragging nets through the protected area.
The UK government has said it is considering tougher restrictions on harmful fishing in marine protected areas. Greenpeace's action is expected to intensify the debate on the issue.
