London, UK: Activists on board the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise have successfully placed giant boulders onto the seabed in the Southern North Sea - the UK's most bottom-trawled offshore Marine Protected Area (MPA) - forming an underwater barrier to prevent the destructive fishing method.
Using boulders signed by UK MPs and prominent figures including actors Simon Pegg and Benedict Cumberbatch, the Greenpeace UK activists formed an underwater barrier effectively closing 116 km² along England's east coast, as new analysis by Greenpeace UK reveals bottom trawlers spent at least 37,200 hours in 2025 alone fishing in this MPA - created to protect harbour porpoises.[1][2]
A new Greenpeace International report found that at the current rate of progress, it could take 265 years to fully protect 30% of the ocean, which scientists say is the minimum required to give it a chance at recovery. The report shows only 3.5% of the world's ocean is currently fully or highly protected, and just 1% of UK waters.[3]
Will McCallum, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK said: "Destruction on a huge scale is happening near our shores out of sight, in places we're told are 'Marine Protected Areas'. Hulking great ships prowl our oceans day after day, stripping them of fish and killing precious wildlife like dolphins, sharks and sea birds.
"With our ship and a movement behind us, we're doing what the government isn't: Protecting our seas. We're setting a bold challenge to ministers: Ban destructive fishing across all our protected waters at home, and lead the charge for a network of global ocean sanctuaries across the Atlantic."
New analysis from Greenpeace UK shows that in 2025, bottom trawlers and dredgers churned up a cumulative 55,600 km² of seabed inside the UK's Marine Protected Areas - an area 58 times the size of Croatia.[4] According to the findings, trawlers and dredgers spent at least 115,000 hours towing gear along the seabed inside these MPAs in 2025 – the equivalent of more than 13 years of non-stop fishing.
Despite its status as a 'Marine Protected Area', there are currently no restrictions on fishing activity in most of the Southern North Sea MPA, meaning bottom-trawlers, dredgers and other industrial vessels threaten the porpoise population daily. The Arctic Sunrise will remain in the area to monitor any other types of destructive industrial fishing.
Governments around the world committed to a global target to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030. The Arctic Sunrise action comes as progress towards this target is revealed at the UN biodiversity conference (CBD COP17) in Armenia.
