Greenpeace activists drop huge boulders on the North Sea floor to block bottom trawling in a zone protected for porpoises

Greenpeace dropped dozens of granite boulders off the Yorkshire coast over the weekend, targeting a marine protected area in the North Sea called the Dogger Bank where bottom trawling is still permitted despite its protected status. The action is designed to physically obstruct trawler nets and prevent them dragging across the seabed, which campaigners say is destroying habitats critical to harbour porpoise populations.

The boulders were deployed in the Silver Pit area of the North Sea, which is formally designated to protect porpoises but has no legal ban on bottom trawling.

The campaign has backing from celebrities including Simon Pegg, who lent his support to what Greenpeace is billing as a direct-action conservation drive.

Bottom trawling involves dragging weighted nets across the seafloor and is widely condemned by marine scientists as one of the most destructive fishing methods for seabed ecosystems.