Greenpeace activists create ‘boulder barrier’ in North Sea to deter industrial fishing — SkimNews
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- Greenpeace UK activists aboard the Arctic Sunrise dropped giant boulders into the North Sea to form an underwater barrier around the Southern North Sea MPA, described as the UK’s most bottom-trawled MPA.
- Arctic Sunrise will patrol the area over the coming days to deter other industrial fishing, after the boulder barrier effectively closed 116 sq km (about 45 sq miles) to bottom trawling; activists declared the zone an “ocean park.”
- Southern North Sea MPA supports nearly 20% of the UK North Sea’s harbour porpoise population and is intended to maintain prey availability, but has no restrictions on fishing in most of the area despite its protected status.
- Bottom trawlers logged more than 37,200 fishing hours inside the protected zone in 2025, which Greenpeace UK described as akin to “a bulldozer tearing through a treasured national park.”
- Greenpeace UK’s analysis found that bottom trawlers and dredgers tore through a cumulative 55,600 sq km of MPA seabeds in 2025, equivalent to 58 times Dartmoor’s area.
- Kerry McCarthy added her name to one of the boulders and said industrial fishing can legally tear through supposedly protected areas; she called for a bottom-trawling ban and properly protected ocean sanctuaries in UK waters and across the Atlantic.
- Will McCallum said Greenpeace had warned in June that it would take direct action if the government did not act soon, adding that the group was “doing what the government isn’t: protecting our seas.”
Why it matters: Bottom trawlers face a physical barrier across 116 sq km of the Southern North Sea MPA, which supports nearly 20% of the UK North Sea’s harbour porpoise population. Fishing operators lose immediate access to that seabed, while the government remains the target of Greenpeace UK’s call for a bottom-trawling ban and protected ocean sanctuaries.
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