{"id":955644,"date":"2026-11-02T15:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/955644\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T15:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T15:36:11","slug":"greenpeace-activists-create-boulder-barrier-in-north-sea-to-deter-industrial-fishing-fishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/955644\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace activists create \u2018boulder barrier\u2019 in North Sea to deter industrial fishing | Fishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greenpeace activists have dropped boulders in the North Sea to snag the dragnets of industrial trawlers fishing in a marine protected area.<\/p>\n

Activists onboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise dropped the giant stones to form an underwater barrier around the Southern North Sea marine protected area (MPA) \u2013 the UK\u2019s most bottom-trawled MPA.<\/p>\n

Boulders were loaded on to the Arctic Sunrise in Le Havre. Photograph: Andrew McConnell\/Greenpeace<\/p>\n

The Southern North Sea is an area of importance for harbour porpoises<\/a>, supporting nearly 20% of the UK North Sea population<\/a>. But despite its MPA status, there are no restrictions on fishing in most of it. Bottom trawlers, dredgers and other industrial fishing vessels scour it daily.<\/p>\n

Bottom trawlers logged more than 37,200 fishing hours in the protected zone in 2025, an act akin to \u201ca bulldozer tearing through a treasured national park\u201d, Greenpeace UK said.<\/p>\n

\"GreenpeaceGreenpeace campaigners drop boulders onto the seabed to create anti-trawler barrier<\/p>\n

\u201cHulking great ships prowl the sea day after day, stripping it of fish and killing precious wildlife like porpoises, sharks and sea birds,\u201d said Will McCallum, the campaign organisation\u2019s co-executive director. \u201cWith our ship and a movement behind us, we\u2019re doing what the government isn\u2019t: protecting our seas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cboulder barrier\u201d had effectively closed 116 sq km (about 45 sq miles) of the Southern North Sea MPA to bottom trawling, Greenpeace UK said. Over the coming days, the Arctic Sunrise will patrol the area to deter any other kinds of industrial fishing. The activists have declared the zone an \u201cocean park\u201d, in the spirit of Britain\u2019s national parks.<\/p>\n

\"GreenpeaceGreenpeace campaigner explains the \u201cboulder barrier\u201d on the seabed<\/p>\n

The Southern North Sea MPA lies along the east coast of England, from north of Dogger Bank to the strait of Dover in the south. It is intended to protect porpoise populations, partly by ensuring the \u201cavailability of prey is maintained\u201d. Greenpeace UK\u2019s activists say intensive fishing in the area contradicts this objective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe announced in June that if the government didn\u2019t act soon, Greenpeace UK would take direct action,\u201d McCallum said.<\/p>\n

The boulders form an underwater barrier to prevent bottom-trawling fishing in the \u2018ocean park\u2019 zone. Photograph: Andrew McConnell\/Greenpeace<\/p>\n

The action coincided with the nationwide premiere of Blue Planet III<\/a>, the latest BBC wildlife documentary narrated by David Attenborough to focus on the oceans and the human-made threats they face. In 2025 bottom trawlers and dredgers tore through a cumulative 55,600 sq km of MPA seabeds, an area 58 times the size of Dartmoor national park, according to a Greenpeace analysis.<\/p>\n

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\u2018We need a ban on bottom trawling and properly protected ocean sanctuaries,\u2019 said Kerry McCarthy, an MP and former climate minister who has supported the campaign. Photograph: Andrew McConnell\/Greenpeace<\/p>\n

A number of notable figures added their names to boulders tipped from the Arctic Sunrise into the North Sea. Among them was the Labour MP Kerry McCarthy, a former climate minister and a member of the all-party parliamentary group for the ocean, who said: \u201cIndustrialised fishing is having a hugely destructive impact on our marine environment, yet less than 1% of our seas are protected from it.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Fishing boats] can legally tear through supposedly protected areas of the ocean, wreaking havoc upon the seabed, precious habitats and the sea life that lives there. Progress is too slow and nature can\u2019t wait, which is why I\u2019ve added my name to one of Greenpeace UK\u2019s boulders. We need a ban on bottom trawling and properly protected ocean sanctuaries, both here in UK waters and right across the Atlantic Ocean.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Greenpeace activists have dropped boulders in the North Sea to snag the dragnets of industrial trawlers fishing in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":955645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-955644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}