At about 8:15 am, ten activists on surfboards and five in kayaks from the protest group Operation Quarrantine breached the 200 meters exclusion zone (which states that "bathing, diving and the operation (including anchoring, mooring or allowing a vessel or craft to lie) of vessels and craft, are prohibited within 200 metres of the Queen of the Netherlands whilst that vessel is under way around the Queen of the Netherlands ) in an attempt to stop it, with the Dredge coming to a stop only metres from the protesters.