Greenpeace drops rocks off Sweden to halt trawling

The environmental group Greenpeace dropped dozens of boulders into the Kattegatt, the strait between Sweden and Denmark, on Monday to fight 'bottom trawling' with nets that rake the seabed. Sweden, which holds the six-month European Union presidency, called Greenpeace's actions "confrontational" and said that, while it wanted to protect marine life, the waters were not a spawning area for popular species like cod. Greenpeace activists faced rough seas as they sank the first 40 of a planned 180 boulders weighing 0.5 to 3 tons each into the Kattegatt waters, 20 km (12 miles) off southwest Sweden, while half a dozen fishing trawlers circled nearby. Bottom trawling is widely seen as damaging to the seabed and resulting in high levels of by-catch, which Greenpeace says fishermen toss back dead or dying. Magnus Kindbom, a political adviser at Sweden's fisheries ministry, said the action threatened agreements with neighboring Denmark on fishing bans in other larger, more sensitive fishing areas between their coasts. Greenpeace said in a statement that Sweden must introduce a permanent ban on fishing in the area by its own vessels. Under the EU Common Fisheries Policy members can ban their own vessels from an area, and those of another nation by bilateral agreement, but cannot issue a general fishing ban on a site.