The environmental group’s action aims to make bottom trawling, which damages the seabed and kills non-target species, impossible.
Article written by
Published
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
Its objective: to prevent practices “destructive” industrial fishing. NGO activists Greenpeace dropped in the English Channel, Thursday 1st september, 18 blocks of limestone weighing between 500 and 1,400 kilos. These blocks were cast in the heart of an officially protected marine area, off the southwestern tip of England.
The action of the environmental defense group aims to make bottom trawl fishing impossible, these huge nets used by huge fishing vessels that damage the seabed and kill non-target species. “We are placing large limestone rocks on the seabed to create a protective barrier that will keep the area out of reach of destructive fishing”, Anna Diski, an activist on board the boat, told AFP. Enough to “to prevent” trawlers “to drag their fishing nets along the seabed”she adds.
Greenpeace’s action comes as talks at the UN failed last week to establish an international treaty for the oceans. According to the environmental group, the South West Deeps, where the action took place, are the“one of the most heavily fished marine protected areas in the UK”. He calls on the government and the future Prime Minister, who will be appointed next week, to “ban industrial fishing in all UK marine protected areas by amending fishing licenses”.
The organization cites figures from the “Global Fishing Watch” observatory which claim that 110 vessels – more than half of which came from France – have fished nearly 19,000 hours in the area in 18 months. Among them, bottom trawlers spent 3,376 hours in the protected area.