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Travelling on a flat calm sea into the middle of the English Channel, those on board this Greenpeace vessel knew that catching fishing activity inside a Marine Protected Area (MPA) was highly likely.
Such benign conditions are perfect for trawling.
The Sea Beaver is spending the summer patrolling British waters looking for fishing in MPAs.
These areas, it’s argued, are protected in name only.
Law does not prevent trawlers from dragging their nets along the bottom but in doing so, campaigners ask how it is compatible with environmental protection?
Two hours out of Newhaven, the satellite data pointed us towards a French trawler with its net inside the Bassurelle Sandbank on the English side of the border with France. |
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On this day it was French, but observers routinely see fishing activity inside MPAs from a multitude of states, including Britain.
Greenpeace staff attempted to speak with the trawler skipper and explain that he was in an MPA, but he refused to engage.
So, with a smaller boat, they moved in.
The aim is to educate, but also deter.
The trawler hauled its bulging net on aboard while Green Party MP Caroline Lucas held a banner aloft declaring: 'This is a Marine Protected Area'.
As the net cleared the water, the trawler put on the power and headed straight out of the area.
Despite almost 40% of British waters having protected status, it’s thought that fishers often don’t realise they are in them. |
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