Greenpeace Shoreditch volunteers raise money for ‘boulder barrier’ to thwart industrial fishing in English Channel

One volunteer swam 30 lengths to raise money. Photograph: Greenpeace Shoreditch

Dozens of Greenpeace volunteers in Hackney have spent the past couple of months taking on sponsored challenges to raise money for the charity’s campaign against industrial fishing.

Members of Greenpeace’s Shoreditch branch chose activities related to the number 30 – representing the charity’s target of protecting 30 per cent of the world’s oceans by 2030.

Some cycled 30 kilometres, some swam 30 lengths, and others picked up 30 pieces of litter.

Pablo Schmitow had a slightly different idea: “I decided to do the challenge to identify 30 different species of plants and animals in my neighbourhood.

“Besides learning from nature and having a nice time, I did my part for the fundraising, which will help protect marine life.”

The Shoreditch resident added: “Our planet is full of amazing plant and animal life, and we should protect it on land, but also in the oceans.”

The group, along with other local branches across the UK, raised more than £5,000 to put towards Greenpeace’s “boulder barrier”.

Greenpeace has dropped 18 boulders into the English Channel. Photograph: Kristian Buus / Greenpeace

The charity dropped 18 limestone boulders onto the seabed in the South West Deeps Marine Protected Area (MPA) on 1 September, with each drop costing £10,000.

The huge rocks make it impossible for fishing boats to trawl that part of the western English Channel.

The boulder action took place days after UK leaders failed to secure a Global Ocean Treaty during negotiations in New York, which Greenpeace says threatens the government’s aim to achieve at least 30 per cent ocean protection by 2030.

According to the charity, the South West Deeps is one of the most heavily fished MPAs in the UK. It reports that over the last 18 months, the area experienced almost 19,000 hours of industrial fishing – 3,370 hours of which were bottom-trawling.

Celebrities including Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, Simon Pegg, Stephen Fry, and Daniel Lismore are supporting the action, alongside Conservative politicians Henry Smith MP and Sir Peter Bottomley MP, former Downing Street environment adviser Lord Randall, and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas. Their names were stencilled onto the boulders before they were dropped into the ocean.

The 18 boulders are Portland limestone, with each one weighing between 500kg and 1,400kg.

Artists from the Portland Sculpture and Quarry Trust created a giant ammonite sculpture using one of the boulders, and this will be placed on the seabed alongside the others. The sculptors took inspiration from the ammonite fossils found in Portland limestone.

Schmitow said: “As an island nation, we know how important our oceans are for fishing communities, tourism and tackling climate change. The boulder barrier is a last resort to save the UK’s marine life.

“We would prefer that the government just did its job and kept long-standing promises to end destructive fishing in MPAs, but in the meantime, we have to do something about it.”