The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior at sea in the English Channel and the Celtic Sea.
Greenpeace watch and document the French fishing vessel Luis ll La Rochelle fish, using a gill net. The net was appr. 1km long and took hours to haul in. Much of the catch was cod, but this sting ray and other species were also caught in the the net. This particular sting ray was thrown back out, possibly still alive.
The Rainbow Warrior patrolling the MPAs around the southern tip of the UK, to document and monitor the fishing that is continually going on.
Marine Protected Areas ( MPAs) are designated areas around the British Isles meant to be free of fishing for the fish stock to replenish and to regenerate the marine fauna. However fishing continues to go on in the MPAs, further depleting the fish stock, legally as there are no actual laws preventing fishing from going on and no one to monitor or document what is going on. Greenpeace are calling for bottom trawling and other destructive fishing methods like flyshooting to be banned in the MPAs. The many areas at sea are only protected in name, far from in real life.

