Working from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, the activists surveyed the trawlers's activities on the high seas near the Flemish Cap off the coast of Canada's Newfoundland, said Iris Menn by telephone from the ship.

"We boarded three of the six ships fishing in the area," she said, noting that the vessels freely gave them access to board.

Greenpeace is currently campaigning against the practice of bottom trawling, which involves dragging weighted underwater nets up to 100 meters (109 feet) wide along the sea floor, damaging everything in their paths.

The practice is common in the rich fishing waters of the northwest Atlantic, where it can destroy cold water coral and sponge habitats, the group says.

"This is a biodiversity hotspot," said Menn.

"The problem is that the ships destroy the bottoms and might destroy the corals at the same time," she said.

Last week Greenpeace accused the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization of negligence in protecting the marine ecosystems off Newfoundland and urged the United Nations to set a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling.

After 25 years in operation, Greenpeace said, NAFO "has failed to protect marine stocks and in so doing has allowed the destruction of the rich marine ecosystems that have thrived here for thousands of years."

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