Ploughing the Sea: The Destruction of the Marine Forest

Abstract

A beautiful, untouched, primary oak woodland stretches between fields of grass near a remote village. In the trees, squirrels, birds and dormice search for food while other animals such as wild boars, deer or foxes prowl around the trunks. Not far away, in the meadows, bustards and partridges peck at the soil rich in life, closely watched by eagles. Suddenly, an iron plate falls from more than a hundred metres up in the sky, followed by another about half a kilometre or so away. The plates are connected by a steel cable that supports a huge net. The plates move, and the animals, at first bewildered and then terrified, flee as best they can from the hungry mouth of their prey. The net takes everything it finds: deer, wild boar, bustards… that’s what it came for. But, incidentally, it also takes the whole woodland with it.