A LOCAL branch of Greenpeace in Southampton took part in a nationwide protest over the weekend calling for the UK Government to ensure the oceans are off-limits to deep sea mining.

Volunteers were photographed with home made banners at Weston Shore on Saturday and Sunday.

These images, along with hundreds of others from across the country, will be sent directly to the Government in a bid to stop the practice, which protesters claim destroys habitats.

One Southampton protester, Alice Jenkinson, said: “We’re sending a message to the UK Government that they need to take ocean protection seriously, and end their support for deep sea mining.”

Genevieve, another protester from Southampton, said: ‘Rather than a handful of companies exploiting the deep sea for profit, we need to prioritize reusing resources and move to a sustainable economy.”

Earlier this month, the Southampton group hosted online screenings of Greenpeace’s docu-series Ocean Witness, and hundreds of people tweeted the Foreign Office Minister Zac Goldsmith about ‘the need for a strong Global Ocean Treaty’.

The Government’s review into deep sea mining will conclude in July.

One of the three largest corporations which work on the still experimental practice of deep sea mining is UK Seabed Resources Ltd, a subsidiary of US weapons giant Lockheed Martin.