Greenpeace not prosecuted over North Sea boulder dumping

Greenpeace will not be prosecuted for dumping boulders in the Klaverbank in the North Sea, the court in Amsterdam determined on Monday. In May this year, Greenpeace sunk 10 large builders on the Klaverbank in the North Sea. The environmental organization wanted to draw the government's attention to the fact that the Klaverbank is still not closed to fishermen, despite the fact that the area was named a Natura2000-area in 2008. A number of fishermen, united under Visned, filed a lawsuit against Greenpeace. According to the fishermen, the sinking of the boulders was very dangerous - fishing nets could get caught on the boulders and capsize a ship, or a ship could sail into the boulders. The court weighed the interests of Greenpeace and the fishermen and decided that Greenpeace did not act unlawfully. Greenpeace has the right to perform actions and there is not enough evidence that the sinking of the boulders could lead to dangerous situations. According to the court, Greenpeace immediately announced the site of the boulders - a small area of 40 by 40 meters on a sand bank 160 kilometers northwest of Texel - so that fishermen could take it into account. Gravel and large boulders naturally appear in the Klaverbank area, so fishermen must anyway be alert to avoid boulders in fishing nets. And the boulders are also very deep, so there is no risk of collisions.