Boardmasters and Oceana take on bottom trawling off Newquay

Head to Fistral this August and the sea in front of you looks about as healthy as it gets: clean lines, surfers strung out along the peak, the whole reason Boardmasters ended up in Newquay in the first place. A few miles further out, according to the ocean conservation group Oceana, the picture is very different. This year the festival is using its stage to say so.

A festival partnership with a target

Boardmasters has named Oceana as its official environmental partner, and for 2026 the two have picked a specific fight: an end to bottom trawling in the UK’s marine protected areas. Bottom trawling drags heavy weighted nets across the seabed, and Oceana describes the practice as one that effectively bulldozes the seafloor and scoops up almost everything living in its path.

The marine protected area off Newquay, the stretch of sea beyond the festival site, saw 2,494 hours of apparent bottom trawling in 2025. Oceana points out that the government permits the practice in this protected area year-round.

Falmouth students bring the message to The View

Rather than hand festival-goers a leaflet, Boardmasters and Oceana have brought in arts students from Falmouth University to make original protest art. The work will be on show at The View stage across the festival, where it is hard to miss and easy to photograph.

Anyone who engages with the campaign on site can also use an Oceana action page to send a digital postcard to their local MP. The ask is a ban on bottom trawling in the marine protected areas that were consulted on in June, and better protection for habitats used by harbour porpoises and puffins. Oceana says eight in ten UK adults support a ban on the practice in protected waters.

What Oceana’s report claims

The campaign leans on Oceana’s report, Trawled and Mauled. It looks at 113 UK marine protected areas set up to protect dolphins, porpoises, whales and seabirds, and finds that only two of them ban bottom trawling outright. The report states that the government’s own assessments flag bottom trawling as a threat in 75 per cent of those sites, and that one harbour porpoise sanctuary saw more than 30,000 hours of it in 2025.

Beyond the physical damage to the seabed, the report sets out knock-on effects that Oceana attributes to trawling: the loss of prey species such as sandeels, underwater noise that interferes with how dolphins and porpoises navigate by echolocation, and clouds of stirred-up sediment that make life harder for sight-based hunters like puffins.

Professor Emma Sheehan, quoted in the report, said bottom trawling “ravages habitats, removes prey and generates intense underwater noise”. Clive Mills, a former Sussex trawlerman also quoted in the report, said he had seen the damage being done firsthand.

Sustainability as part of the Boardmasters pitch

Boardmasters has leaned on its green credentials for years, through its Green Pledge and its #LeaveOnlyFootprints campaign, and it runs an impact report each year to track where it can cut its footprint. The Oceana partnership is the festival’s latest move in that direction.

Rob Spring, Festival Director of Boardmasters, said: “Sustainability matters to us at Boardmasters, and we know there’s always more to do. We’re grateful to work alongside Oceana, and this year we have invited students from Falmouth University to help shine a spotlight on this vital issue through their creativity. It’s part of our ongoing effort to protect the coastline we’re lucky to call home.”

Hugo Tagholm, Executive Director of Oceana in the UK, said: “It’s inspiring to work with the Boardmasters team and passionate local arts students to bring this vital message to everyone who attends this brilliant festival. It’s appalling to think that while we surf the waves of Newquay’s world-class Fistral beach, out at sea ocean life and habitats are being degraded and destroyed. We must ensure our marine sanctuaries are properly protected to safeguard ocean health and allow UK seas to thrive once again.”

Cornish roots on both sides

Oceana runs its UK operation out of Cornwall and London, and says it has notched up more than 300 wins against overfishing, habitat destruction, and oil and plastic pollution around the world. Its UK campaigns push to end new oil and gas licences, stop overfishing, and ban bottom trawling in protected waters.

Boardmasters runs from 5 to 9 August 2026. The protest art, and the argument behind it, will be waiting at The View.