GREENPEACE is set to create an underwater barrier off the coast of Cornwall in a bid to protect a rare seabed habitat from destructive trawler fishing. 

The environmental group has described the action as a last resort, warning that time is running out to save Britain’s oceans from industrial fishing, habitat destruction and climate change. 

Activists plan to create the barrier by dropping huge boulders from Greenpeace’s ship Arctic Sunrise in the South West Deeps, a designated so-called marine protected area 200 miles off the Land’s End peninsula, the group announced yesterday. 

They hope the boulders will prevent trawling that indiscriminately tears up delicate ecosystems to catch species such as cod, squid and flatfish. 

Despite being recognised as sites of special ecological importance, marine protected areas are not automatically granted any extra legal protection from fishing.

Environment Secretary George Eustice declared in April that bottom trawling would be banned at four of the UK’s 76 protected zones, but campaigners argue the government is not moving fast enough to ensure delicate ecosystems are protected. 

Greenpeace UK’s executive director Pat Venditti said: “The future of the UK’s oceans is hanging in the balance, and we’re running out of time to save them from industrial fishing, habitat destruction and climate change.

“The next prime minister should ban industrial fishing in marine protected areas by tweaking commercial fishing licences to show they mean business on protecting nature and supporting fishing communities.”

It is the third underwater barrier created by Greenpeace in an attempt to protect seabeds. 

It comes after the group was taken to court by the Marine Management Organisation over its boulder drop at Dogger Bank. The case was later dropped after a judge argued the prosecution was not in the public interest.