Video: Greenpeace blocks destructive fishing with new ‘boulder barrier’
The environmental campaign group, Greenpeace, has hit the UK headlines after dropping granite boulders off the coast of Sussex in an attempt to stop destructive bottom trawling.
Greenpeace says it has constructed a “boulder barrier” on the seabed off the coast of Sussex in England. It says the barrier will stop destructive bottom trawling in an area that is supposed to be a protected part of the ocean. The Greenpeace ship, Esperanza, dropped the boulders across a 55 square mile area in the Offshore Brighton Marine Protected Area earlier this week.
The group says the action will deter destructive fishing practices by snagging bottom-trawled nets. The relevant marine authorities have been notified of the precise location of the boulders.
The Offshore Brighton Marine Protected Area is 45 km off the coast of Sussex and adjoins the sea border with France. Its 862 square kilometres are an important habitat for hermit crabs, scallops, starfish, sponges, sea worms, and anemones which are in turn a vital food source for marine mammals and fish such as cod, haddock, and dogfish.
Campaigners say that although the area is protected on paper, the UK government has failed to properly safeguard the area and according to official fisheries data, bottom trawlers spent 3099 hours fishing the area in 2019.
