Environmental activists deployed nine two-tonne limestone rocks roughly 50 kilometres offshore from the ship Arctic Sunrise to obstruct heavy fishing gear. The targeted zone recorded more than 37,200 hours of bottom-trawling in 2025 despite harbouring around 17.5 percent of the UK North Sea harbour porpoise population. Greenpeace proceeded without an official marine licence, arguing the intervention was necessary because existing protected status lacked enforceable fishing gear restrictions. The Marine Management Organisation has not yet declared any formal enforcement measures regarding the unlicensed seabed operation.
Key points
The newly formed underwater barrier effectively shuts down 116 square kilometres of seabe…: The newly formed underwater barrier effectively shuts down 116 square kilometres of seabed to bottom-towed fishing gear.
Campaigners carried out the deployment without obtaining a mandatory marine licence under…: Campaigners carried out the deployment without obtaining a mandatory marine licence under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.
Public figures including Benedict Cumberbatch and Simon Pegg endorsed the campaign by sig…: Public figures including Benedict Cumberbatch and Simon Pegg endorsed the campaign by signing the boulders before their release.
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The Southern North Sea Marine Protected Area (MPA), designated to safeguard marine wildlife, has recorded the highest level of bottom-trawling activity among the UK's offshore protected sites. Now, in an unusual attempt to protect its marine biodiversity, Greenpeace activists have dropped nine giant limestone boulders onto the seabed, creating what the organisation describes as an underwater barrier against industrial fishing.
The boulders, each weighing up to two tonnes, were deployed from Greenpeace's vessel Arctic Sunrise on October 31, approximately 50 km off England's eastern coast. The organisation announced the operation on November 2, claiming that the strategically placed rocks had effectively closed 116 sq km (approximately 45 square miles) of the protected area to bottom trawling.
Why is Greenpeace targeting the North Sea?
Bottom trawling involves fishing vessels dragging large, weighted nets across the seabed to catch fish. The method can damage sensitive underwater habitats, including corals, sponges and seagrass beds, while disturbing marine ecosystems and affecting species that depend on them. According to Greenpeace UK, bottom-towed fishing gear was used for at least 37,200 hours in the Southern North…
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