Two-tonne boulders, dropped for porpoises: a seabed barrier rises in the UK's most trawled protected area

The Southern North Sea Marine Protected Area exists to safeguard harbour porpoises — yet in 2025, bottom trawlers logged more than 37,200 fishing hours inside it, more than in any other UK offshore protected area. Over the weekend, Greenpeace UK campaigners placed giant boulders, each weighing up to two tonnes, on the seabed there, building an underwater barrier that bottom trawling gear cannot drag through. The timing was deliberate: the first episode of Blue Planet III aired on BBC One the night before. 'We announced in June that if the government didn't act soon, Greenpeace UK would take direct action,' the group said, challenging ministers to ban destructive fishing across all protected waters. Analysis with Global Fishing Watch data found bottom-towed gear was dragged across a cumulative 55,600 square kilometres of seabed inside UK protected areas in 2025.

SDG 14 · Life below water — Mechanism: community action