Greenpeace has dropped nine boulders off the east coast of England to create a barrier that disrupts bottom trawling by fishing vessels.
The environmental campaigners’ ship Arctic Sunrise released the rocks, without a licence, over the weekend about 50km (30 miles) east of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
Bottom trawling involves dragging weighted nets along the seabed to catch fish, although it can harm underwater vegetation.
Greenpeace claimed it had “effectively closed 116 sq km (45 sq miles) of the Southern North Sea Marine Protected Area (MPA) to bottom trawling”. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said “activities at sea should be carried out lawfully”.
When asked if it had permission to drop the boulders, Greenpeace said this was a “last resort” for it, and it did not have a licence.
It said that after years of meeting with politicians and the government to try to protect marine protected areas, progress had been “at a glacial pace”.
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