Environmental activists aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise have dropped nine massive two-tonne boulders into the North Sea without a licence, aiming to stop fishing boats from dragging heavy nets across a protected seabed. The rocks were released about 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Great Yarmouth off the coast of Norfolk, directly inside the Southern North Sea Marine Protected Area.
The direct action targets bottom trawling, a controversial fishing practice where heavily weighted nets are dragged across the seafloor. Although widely used to catch fish, the technique tears up marine vegetation and damages fragile underwater ecosystems. Greenpeace highlighted that trawling harms local harbour porpoises by depleting the fish stocks they depend on for food, while underwater engine and gear noise disrupts their ability to hunt. The organisation claimed the newly formed barrier has effectively blocked bottom trawling across 116 square kilometres (45 square miles) of the protected zone.
Greenpeace described the unlicensed operation as a "last resort," arguing that years of meetings with government officials had yielded progress only at a "glacial pace." Activists said they promptly notified maritime authorities of the exact coordinates for each boulder so nautical maps could be updated to ensure vessel safety. In response, a spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) stressed that all marine activities must be carried out lawfully and with care for other sea users, noting that damaging fishing practices are already banned in more than 100 marine protected sites and additional restrictions remain under consideration.