Hi John,

I appreciate there is a lot going on right now and many are in a state of mourning - but I wanted to update you on something important, even in the middle of these difficult times.

On Thursday the government blocked Greenpeace activists from protecting the UK’s oceans. I was on the Arctic Sunrise myself, and I should have been helping the Greenpeace team load up boulders for their next action. But the Government stopped us in our tracks - threatening legal action against not only Greenpeace, but Poole Harbour and even the hauliers who were bringing the boulders!

So along with a Greenpeace activist I made a live Instagram broadcast asking the Government to get their priorities straight. It’s ridiculous - the government is wasting public time and money clamping down on activists building protective boulder barriers instead of the destructive fishing vessels plundering our seas.

Will you email your MP now and ask them to urge the new Environment Minister, Ranil Jayawardena, to stop the industrial fishing frenzy - so Greenpeace don’t have to?

Greenpeace were planning to extend their boulder barrier in a so-called “protected” area of ocean called the South West Deeps, which in the last 18 months alone, has been industrially fished for almost 20,000 hours, causing untold devastation to marine life. [1] 

I was proud to have my name stenciled on a boulder. Extending the boulder barrier would have provided greater protection to this vulnerable ecosystem - so it is shocking that the government’s Marine Management Organisation has stopped Greenpeace. They’ve threatened Poole Harbour with legal action if they allow a delivery of new boulders onto the Greenpeace ship. Instead of blocking Greenpeace they need to be the ones protecting our oceans - and so far they’ve fallen short.

But we’ve got a chance to turn things around. Last week a new Environment Minister was appointed and so we’ve got a fresh opportunity to explain to him that this is an urgent issue, and get the government to step-up and ban all industrial fishing vessels from protected UK waters.

Can you email your MP now and ask them to write to the new Environment Minister? The more of us who email our MP, the more pressure the new Minister will feel to stop the industrial fishing frenzy.

Greenpeace’s boulder action was a last resort. Over the last few years we’ve submitted petitions with hundreds of thousands of signatures, had countless meetings with politicians, you name it - but the government has been moving at a snail’s pace and continues to allow industrial fishing to empty our oceans.

Time is ticking to save our fragile oceans. Today’s events have shown that the government can act quickly when it wants to, so they have no excuse for their painstakingly slow approach to ocean protection. The new Environment Minister must step up to defend our oceans because our planet depends on it - you can remind them by emailing your MP.

Thanks for all that you do,

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the Greenpeace UK team

NOTES:

[1] Greenpeace UK to create underwater boulder barrier in Marine Protected Area near Cornwall to block destructive industrial fishing

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