Hundreds of turbines could be built about five miles off the coast

The men from Boston, Skegness and King's Lynn are unhappy at government proposals to erect 250 wind turbines in the Greater Wash.

If it goes ahead, the facility would be part of one of the largest wind farms in the world.

Planning permission has already been granted for 60 turbines on two sites off the south Lincolnshire coast.

Project 'impractical'

Andy Roper, who organised the protest, emphasised the fishermen's livelihoods are being threatened.

He said: "These guys need this ground to earn a living, they are very conservation minded.

"They don't want to get in the way of future progress but they also want to protect their fishing rights and their fishing stocks - they could go bankrupt."

He added: "These will cause a tremendous amount of disruption to the sea bed and you have a lot of problems when it come to spawning.

"The honest truth is that these wind farms will not be that efficient and we are scared there will be collisions at seas, there will be oil on the beach and birds will be killed."

Simon Letzer who fishes out of King's Lynn said: "The wind farms will cost an absolute fortune to build and the project is impractical as well.

"The areas most suitable for building are also important fishing grounds."

Survey work on the seabed is already under way off Skegness and Centrica plan to start work on the wind farms next year.

Fishermen 'ignored'

John Lake, 63, from King's Lynn, who has been in the fishing industry for 30 years, said calls for research into the effects the turbines will have on the fishing grounds have been ignored.

Mr Lake, who runs Lake Shellfish Ltd with his son Neil, said between 400-500 fishermen would be affected.

He said the protests would continue until conditions of the licence had been complied with and the fishermen had received their compensation.

The developer, Centrica, has told BBC Radio Lincolnshire they appreciate the projects will cause some disruption to the fishing industry but they are committed to a fair settlement that will reflect this.

They also said earlier they are in talks with fishermen over a compensation scheme.