Greepeace Activists Protest in Berlin

Greenpeace activists gathered in Berlin on Tuesday afternoon to protest EU fishing policies. To make their point, they spread out 11,000 dead fish on a 100 meter-long table in front of the Brandenburg gate. The fish were caught during a single two-hour commercial fishing expedition in the North Sea last week, but sorted out and thrown away as "trash" by the fishermen because they were considered unsuitable for sale. The discarded fish were later picked up by the Greenpeace boat "Esperanza" and brought to Berlin for the protest. According to Thomas Henningsen, a marine biologist for Greenpeace, more than 700,000 fish are needlessly killed in such a manner every year and the practice should come to an end. Greenpeace is calling on officials to proclaim 40 percent of the North and Baltic Seas as protected areas in order to give the fish populations a chance to recover.