Johan Hennaert, a fisherman from the West Flemish port of Ostend, has reacted strongly to the action taken by environmental organisation Greenpeace last weekend. Greenpeace dumped blocks of granite into the southern North Sea, an area also used by many Flemish fishermen. Greenpeace says it wants to protect the seabed and fish stocks. Hennaert calls the action life-threatening and irresponsible.
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Flemish fishers up in arms after Greenpeace dumps boulders into the North Sea
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According to Greenpeace, the stones are scattered across an area of 116 square kilometres of the North Sea, off the east coast of England. That zone has protected status, but for the most part there are no restrictions on fishing and fishing therefore takes place there.
And that is not acceptable, according to the environmental organisation. They want to use the stones to protect biodiversity on the seabed, and porpoises in particular.
Risk of capsizing
The action has not gone down well with Flemish fishermen. “The area where Greenpeace has dumped the waste is one of the most important fishing grounds for Belgian fishermen,” says shipowner and fisherman Johan Hennaert (56) of the O.231 Den Hoope from Ostend. He has been in the trade for over 40 years and now also works alongside his two sons.
“We can’t fish there anymore,” he says. “We fish with a beam trawl, so we pull the net from both sides. If you have to haul up a 2-tonne rock and the net tears, there’s a high risk that our smaller vessels will capsize. That risk increases even further in bad weather when there’s a swell of 4 or 5-metre waves.”
Hennaert wrote an open letter to Greenpeace on Facebook to express his dissatisfaction. “The people at Greenpeace don’t realise what they’re getting themselves into. Every fisherman has a friend who has died after their boat capsized at sea. I invite the people at Greenpeace to come and fish in that area. They’re welcome to stand on deck. I’m sure it will give them a sleepless night.”
Greenpeace’s response
Greenpeace says it acknowledges receipt of the open letter. “We are not carrying out these actions to make life difficult for fishermen,” says Ruth-Marie Henckes, Ocean Campaigner at Greenpeace Belgium. “Beam trawling is still permitted in those areas, but research has shown how harmful this method is to porpoises. They often get caught in the nets. Furthermore, the exact location of the boulders has been passed on to the maritime authorities.”
But according to Hennaert, sharing the location of the boulders is by no means a solution or a concession. “Fishing boats that use techniques other than trawl nets can sail over those blocks and fish. They can still move those stones, though. So, knowing the location of those stones is of no use to us. Today that stone is here; tomorrow another colleague might accidentally move it. It remains dangerous.”
Not the first time
This is not the first time Greenpeace has pulled off this sort of stunt. In recent years, the organisation has also dumped stones in the British part of the Dogger Bank.
“Where they’ve dumped them now, six wooden cutters have already capsized over the last 20 years because they’d caught something heavy in their nets,” says Hennaert.
As a fisherman, John feels increasingly targeted. “Our fishing industry is being unfairly portrayed in a bad light. None of our colleagues can see a future in this anymore because of all the regulations. We’re up to our necks in it. We’re stuck with expensive diesel. There are loads of closed zones, wind farms and nature reserves. We’ll carry on for as long as we can, but I don’t know whether my sons will take over the business.”