Oceans Campaign North Sea Tour 2004 Marine Reserves

Greenpeace is touring the Baltic and North Sea, campaigning for the implementation of a network of marine reserves to protect fish stocks and allow the populations to recover. Greenpeace advocates for marine reserves on the North Sea to give the over-fished area's the chance to recover. In august and September 2004 Greenpeace undertook an action tour with Greenpeace vessel the 'Esperanza' on the North Sea, including the Dogger bank. The seven suggested marine reserves are essential for the reproduction of fish or provide a home for special marine life like vulnerable shells, colorful cold water coral or dolphins. Greenpeace wants harmful activities like fishing, oil, gas or sand extraction, or dumping of waste to be prohibited in these reserves.
In the first week of august Greenpeace marked the Dogger bank reserve with large buoys. Also the Esperanza team investigated the by-catch of a Belgian trawler. A two-hour fishing trip 'produced' 11.000 dead soil animals. The Dogger bank reserve is an area of 85.000 square kilometer which lies in the middle of the North Sea and is a part of the Dutch, German, English, Danish, and Norwegian North Sea and is one of the seven suggested marine reserves. The North Sea is threatened by harmful activities like overfishing and sand, oil and gas extraction. Only when these activities will be prohibited in the marine reserves will nature and fish populations have a chance to recover.
One of the biggest threats to the Dogger bank is bottom trawling. Trawlers use big heavy chains to drag their nets across the oceans soil, and these nets kill everything they encounter. Eighty percent of the catch is too young or too small fish and other species like crab, starfish and octopuses. These animals are severely injured or dead when they get thrown overboard. On a yearly basis we talk about 700.000 tons of dead fish and soil animals.
The current European management of the North Sea is totally fragmented. Every activity like fishery, nature management, shipping, oil and gas extraction, has its own policy. Because of this there is no univocal vision which prevents good management of these valuable areas.