Activists board supertrawler to prevent it from fishing in ‘protected waters’
Greenpeace activists have boarded a supertrawler in the North Sea and prevented it from fishing in what it claims are protected waters.
The environmental group said the Helen Mary vessel was fishing in the Central Fladen protected area, east of Scotland.
Activists from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza boarded the 117 metre-long vessel and hung a banner reading:
Ban supertrawlers now!
Protected areas
They placed fishing deterrents in the supertrawler’s nets before the Germany-registered Helen Mary left the area.
Read on...
Support us and go ad-freeIn 2019, the same vessel was detained at sea by Marine Scotland on suspected fishery offences. Supertrawlers are high intensity fishing vessels, capable of catching hundreds of tonnes of fish each day using nets up to a mile long.
Greenpeace say the intensity with which they fish negatively impacts the entire marine ecosystem.
Chris Thorne, a Greenpeace UK oceans campaigner on board Esperanza, said:
Support us and go ad-freeSupertrawlers have no place in our protected areas.
What use is a protected area, when the highest intensity industrial fishing vessels are allowed to operate inside it?
Regardless of whether a protected area protects the seabed, or marine life like porpoises which are directly threatened by supertrawlers, the operations of a supertrawler in a supposedly protected area make a mockery of the word protected.
We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support
The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.
The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.
So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.
-
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.
