Hi John,

 

Yesterday, in the North Sea, activists started placing natural boulders on the seabed to prevent fishing boats from destroying it using a technique called bottom trawling. Bottom trawlers rip up the seabed with their nets - and the government lets this happen in a Marine Protected Area.

 

And now the evidence is clear - the government is failing our Marine Protected Areas. [1] It's time to take action.

 

Can you share this video to highlight the government's failures to properly protect UK marine life?

The Greenpeace ship, Esperanza is visiting some of the UK's Marine Protected Areas to document their progress. And right now it's in the Dogger Bank, which is filled with beautiful wildlife like starfish, and flatfish. But it's also filled with destructive fishing. Bottom trawlers drag heavily weighted nets across the seabed - ripping up everything in their path - while sand eel fishing takes away a vital food source from threatened seabirds, like puffins, to feed animals in fur farms. [2]

 

This is just a glimpse into the destructive fishing happening in the UK's so-called Marine Protected Areas - and why they're failing. Our government claims to be a leader in ocean protection, but allows this to happen. [3]

 

The public, politicians, celebrities - and science is on our side. [4] But the government still isn't doing their duty to protect our marine life. So that's why activists are taking action today. They're placing natural boulders across a 47 mile area in the North Sea because the government is failing to properly protect it.

 

But this is just one area of many that the government is failing to protect. They need to take responsibility, and start acting like the ocean protectors they claim to be and ban destructive fishing across the UK's network of Marine Protected Areas.

 

Can you show the world the government is failing to properly protect the UK's vulnerable marine life?

People from across the country, and across the political spectrum want destructive fishing banned from Marine Protected Areas. The evidence is undeniable - but every moment the government fails to act threatens our marine life. Make sure you put the pressure on.

 

Thank you for everything you do,

Anthony and the oceans team

 

P.S. Check out our live blog to find out more about how we're creating this huge protected area and why it's so important.

 

Notes:

[1] Bright Blue Seas

[2] Destructive fishing in UK Marine Protected Areas

[3] Time to step up and save our ocean

[4] Sir Michael Palin, Gillian Anderson among celebrities calling for UK ban on supertrawlers in marine protected areas

 

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