Greenpeace – Making Waves: Victory in Kattegat

This entry was posted by admin on Friday, 23 October, 2009 at
Photo: © Greenpeace / Christian Aslund

Photo: © Greenpeace / Christian Aslund

Back in August, our activists sailed to Sweden to drop 180 enormous granite blocks into the sea. It was an odd sight, to be sure, but the action effectively protected an environmentally-rich area called the Kattegat from bottom-trawling, a fishing method in which nets are dragged across the ocean floor, haphazardly scooping up everything in their way.

Oddly enough, despite the fact that a recent study proved that a previous stone-dropping action in Germany was effective, the outrage was tremendous. The area, which was supposed to have been protected by the Swedish government under EU law, was predominantly being fished by Danish fishermen, who went berserk and got their government to pressure the Swedes into taking action against us. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency did just that. It appealed to the country’s Environmental Court, stating that the action would disturb the local marine environment and that we needed a license to drop the blocks.

After over a month’s wait, we finally have our verdict. The Swedish Environmental Court has dismissed the appeal , confirming that our action did no environmental harm. The marine life of the Kattegat is now safe from irresponsible and unsustainable fishing tactics, but we need help to ensure that more areas are granted such effective protection. We are calling for a global network of marine reserves in order to protect the world’s oceans. Sign our petition now!

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