GREENPEACE and its director are being prosecuted for dropping boulders on to the seabed off the British coast to prevent industrial trawlers from wrecking protected marine areas.

The prosecution is being brought by the government’s Marine Management Organisation (MMO).

Greenpeace has created “boulder barriers” on the seabed in several Marine Protected Areas off the British coast — designated sections of seabed where destructive activities such as bottom trawling are banned.

Industrial bottom trawling drags weighted nets across the seabed, wrecking all marine life.

Greenpeace says it took action as the MMO fails to enforce protection regulations, which cover 40 vulnerable areas of UK seabed.

The campaign group faces prosecution following its boulder barrier just off Brighton, with chief executive John Sauven expected to appear in Newcastle Crown Court yesterday. He and Greenpeace are charged with “dropping boulders without a licence.”

They are pleading not guilty. If convicted he could be imprisoned for two years.

Mr Sauven said: “Our boulder barriers were absolutely necessary in the face of continued inaction from the MMO, which has failed to protect our oceans from industrial fishing.

“It’s absurd that the MMO, which is supposed to protect our natural environment, is wasting public resources taking us to court for protecting our oceans and doing their job for them. 

“Our boulder barriers have stopped bottom trawlers from further damaging our oceans and worsening the climate emergency.”

Greenpeace’s boulders were signed by well-known individuals including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Thandiwe Newton, Mark Rylance, Jarvis Cocker, Robert Plant and others.