This morning Greenpeace activists are taking action to defend the proposed Dogger Bank Marine Reserve in the North Sea from destructive fishing methods.
At 8am Greenpeace activists in rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) approached Friendship, a UK flagged and Dutch owned beam trawler, and tried to prevent it from fishing, by hooking a big buoy with themselves on top of it onto the cable that tows its net. Before taking action the activists had called on the trawler's captain to leave the marine reserve area.
The crew responded by firing rockets and throwing shackles at the activists. The activists are now taking action against another vessel that has entered the area - a UK registered Dutch owned beam trawler called Endurance. Both ships are registered in Peterhead, Scotland.
The action is taking place in a part of Dogger Bank called South West Patch. This is the third time in three weeks that the Esperanza has taken action to protect the Dogger Bank Marine Reserve from destructive fishing.
The Greenpeace proposed Dogger Bank Marine Reserve, an area of 85,000 square kilometres, in the middle of the North Sea, is part of the German, UK, Dutch, Danish and Norwegian economic zones. It is one of the 17 proposed marine reserves in the North and Baltic Seas that Greenpeace is urging governments to make totally off limits to fishing, dredging, and mineral exploration.
The proposed reserves were selected based on scientific survey data and include ecologically important habitats, as well as fish spawning and nursery grounds (1).
The North Sea faces a multitude of different threats from destructive overfishing to global warming. One of the biggest threats to the Dogger Bank region is an out of control fishing policy. Trawlers such as the Friendship use big nets that destroy the seabed by ploughing into it as they pass, indiscriminately catching and killing everything in their path. About 80 percent of the total catch are thrown overboard either dead or dying, this includes young and undersized fish that are too small and non-target species such as crabs, starfish, and octopus.
Greenpeace campaigner Oliver Knowles onboard Esperanza said, "The North Sea is facing a crisis, fish stocks are crashing, and global warming and pollution are disrupting its delicate ecosystem. Continuing with business as usual is simply not an option".
He continued, "We urgently need a radical change of approach to managing our oceans. We need to act now to set up large-scale marine reserves, in order to give fish, dolphins, seals whales and other sea life a chance to recover. Continuing to allow these trawlers to plough the seabed, destroying so much sea life, then discarding around three quarters of their catch simply isn't an option if we want to have a healthy ocean for future generations".
Greenpeace ship Esperanza is in its sixth week of a tour of the North Sea during which it has been defending marine life in the proposed Marine Reserve areas. After demarcating the Dogger Bank Marine Reserve by setting three huge buoys around the perimeter of the reserve, Greenpeace collected discards from a Belgian trawler. Then on August 11 and August 18 activists from the Esperanza tried to stop a total of three other beam trawlers from continuing their destructive fishing in the proposed Marine Reserve.
Further information
Contact the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255. Supporting photo and video are available.
(1) On July 14 2004 Greenpeace published a report 'Rescuing the North and Baltic Seas: Marine Reserves a key tool', which details why the North and Baltic seas need protection and includes maps showing the locations of the proposed marine reserves. To download the report or find out more about the tour visit weblog.greenpeace.org/northsea/
