Yahoo TV

Dame Joanna Lumley is today (Thurs) hosting an explosive demonstration as part of her 'Stop Sea Blasts' campaign - to stop the MoD blasting the sea bed to clear military ordnance. Ab Fab star Lumley, 75, has called for a change in the way the sea floor is cleared of over 500,000 bombs and mines to make way for wind farms. They are traditionally just 'blown up’ which the actress says has an ''incredibly damaging'' effect on the auditory systems of whales and dolphins. Her campaign resulted in Defra changing its guidance last November on the way that unexploded ordnance is cleared from the sea floor. Today Lumley and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, George Eustice met at a quarry for a demonstration. Her 'Stop Sea Blasts' campaign calls for a technique known as low order deflagration, which burns out the explosive rather than blows it up, and is proven to be several hundred times quieter. Lumley said: "The [detonation] technique can lead to mass-stranding events, such as at the Kyle of Durness in Scotland in 2011, where thirty-nine pilot whales were stranded following a nearby munitions disposal. Nineteen of these precious creatures lost their lives. “I think we owe it to our marine life to do all that we can to prevent such a situation ever happening again – both on our beaches and many miles out at sea.” Filmed on the 13th January 2022.