Greenpeace cleared over celebrity-backed boulder dumping protest

The Marine Management Organisation launched legal action after Greenpeace dropped boulders on a conservation zone off Brighton in an effort to stop destructive bottom trawling.

Stephen Fry, Mark Rylance, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and others had their names written on the boulders as part of the protest.

The marine protected areas was established in 2016, but in 2019 it was the most heavily fished UK protected area, with nearly 7,000 hours of bottom trawling recorded.

The MMO was invited to consider its position last month by Judge Edward Bindloss, who said prosecution was not in the public interest and it “touched on the absurd” that it was happening. He said the boulders were not harmful to the marine environment and Greenpeace's actions were not dangerous.

He said: “One of the ironies is that both the MMO and Greenpeace are committed to improving the marine environment.”

The MMO offered no evidence after Greenpeace and its chief executive John Sauven pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking marine activity without a licence.

Outside Newcastle Crown Court, Mr Sauven, who has stepped down as executive director, said the Government needed to stop licensing destructive ships and fishing methods in the UK’s Marine Protected Areas.

He said: "Our action was designed to safely protect nature from destructive fishing in an area designated as protected but where the MMO is miserably failing to do its job.

"For them to waste court time and public money prosecuting us for doing exactly that is, as the judge said, absurd."

The MMO said it expects Greenpeace to comply with marine licensing rules in the future.

A spokesman said: "Should unlicensed activity occur in the future, we will continue to investigate and will consider enforcement actions in line with our published compliance and enforcement strategy."