The mere plans for a Greenpeace campaign to protect two Natura 2000 sites off the Swedish west coast have inspired government bureaucrats to set off work on new regulations there, campaigners suggest.
Earlier this spring, Greenpeace Nordic announced that they were planning to prevent bottom trawling in the two Natura 2000 areas, located in the Kattegat between Sweden and Denmark, by placing out stone boulders.
Although the practice needs no license, according to Greenpeace, the organisation notified authorities, including the Swedish Ministry of the Environment, about the action, still scheduled to take place in August. The notification included an environmental impact assessment, and Greenpeace said they planned both public hearings and further sea research “in order to perfect the methodology of the planned activities”. It also opened an on-line Internet forum for comments.
The two areas, Fladen and Lilla Middelgrunden, are fished by Swedish, Danish and German trawlers, mostly for Norway lobster and cod. They are officially designed as parts of the NATURA 2000 network of conservation sites of Community importance.
Greenpeace found surprise partners in their quest in professional fishermen from the county of Halland – the fishermen said they, too, were working for the protection of the sites, and added that they thought Greenpeace should protest some big wind power mills to be raised there, as well.
In late May, the County Administrative Board in Halmstad decided that Greenpeace would need no official permits to launch its action, and two days later The Swedish Board of Fisheries announced that they and the National Environmental Protection Agency would start work in September on how Sweden could regulate fisheries in protected marine areas – “not a coincidence”, a Greenpeace campaigner noted.