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Greenpeace launches cod-fishing protest

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Greenpeace launches cod-fishing protest

Activists for environmental group Greenpeace have started dropping boulders into EU-protected cod fishing grounds off Sweden to impede bottom-trawling, a spokesperson confirmed on Monday.

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The group plans to sink 180 boulders into the sea in the Kattegat sound between Sweden and Denmark in response to allegations that trawl nets used by fishermen cause serious damage to marine wildlife.

Greenpeace spokesperson Staffan Danielsson told AFP that the operation, which

began at 11:30am on Monday, "would have no negative impact on the environment" and said the group had carried out a risk assessment that had been approved by independent researchers.

The boulders, weighing between two and three tonnes, are to be sunk in zones classified as Natura 2000 in the Lilla Middelgrund (179 square kilometres) and Flauden (104 square kilometres).

Natura 2000 is a network of sites around the European Union covered by EU directives aimed at protecting wildlife and their habitats.

Both sites lie about 20 kilometres (15 miles) from Varberg port, off Sweden's southwest coast.

"We expect to spend one week here to finish the operation and once we have finish in Flauden, we will start in Lilla Middelgrund," Danielsson said.

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