Activists aboard Greenpeace ship Esperanza have been placing these natural boulders on the seabed across a 47 square mile area of the Dogger Bank, a Marine Protected Area. [1]
And now artist Fiona Banner aka The Vanity Press, has turned our North Sea boulder barrier, that helps stop bottom trawling, into an art sculpture which we’re delivering to George Eustice, to call on him to act and properly protect UK MPAs.
Bottom trawlers drag heavily weighted nets across the seabed, which is as destructive as it sounds. But this isn’t the only type of destructive fishing threatening UK MPAs. Supertrawlers also operate in these areas that are supposed to be protecting important marine habitats and species. And now we know the majority of offshore MPAs are likely to be failing. [2][3]
This doesn’t sound like world-leading ocean protection. [4] It’s time for the government to take action and to listen to over 240,000 people, over 80 MPs from across the political spectrum, scientists and celebrities who are urging the government to ban destructive fishing from UK’s MPAs.
Your MP hasn’t yet signed our open letter to support this campaign, so it’s even more important that you let them know just how urgent this threat to our oceans is. [5] Can you ask your MP to contact George Eustice to speak up for the UK’s important marine ecosystems?
