'We are doing what the government won't': Greenpeace dumps nine giant boulders into the North Sea to create a 45-square-mile underwater 'rock barrier' against industrial fishing

The Southern North Sea Marine Protected Area (MPA), designated to safeguard marine wildlife, has recorded the highest level of bottom-trawling activity among the UK's offshore protected sites.

Now, in an unusual attempt to protect its marine biodiversity, Greenpeace activists have dropped nine giant limestone boulders onto the seabed, creating what the organisation describes as an underwater barrier against industrial fishing.The boulders, each weighing up to two tonnes, were deployed from Greenpeace's vessel Arctic Sunrise on October 31, approximately 50 km off England's eastern coast.

The organisation announced the operation on November 2, claiming that the strategically placed rocks had effectively closed 116 sq km (approximately 45 square miles) of the protected area to bottom trawling.Why is Greenpeace targeting the North Sea?Bottom trawling involves fishing vessels dragging large, weighted nets across the seabed to catch fish.