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In a second judgment in a month against fishing bodies, the General Court of the EU has thrown out a challenge by Spain and industry bodies to a trawling ban in protected areas in deep water.
The European Commission had adopted a regulation establishing a list of deep-sea fishing areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems were known to occur and where bottom-trawling was banned.
Acting on behalf of fishing industry interests in Galicia and Asturias, the Spanish government had argued that the Commission should have undertaken an assessment on behalf of every type of trawl gear used.
The General Court found that the Commission was not obliged to assess the fragility of the ecosystems in the light of each gear type and it has not exceeded its discretion or the principle of proportionality in determining which areas were sensitive.
The judgment comes after Commissioner Kadis promised that the Commission will “work on” the enforcement of existing laws which already arguably prohibit trawling in all protected areas where fishing gears could destroy seabed species and habitats. That is also a separate commitment by 2030 under the EU’s Nature Restoration law, though there are no legal measures at yet for meeting that aspirational target.
Last month the General Court confirmed that marine protected areas across Europe should be protected from destructive fishing practices. Germany and the Netherlands had applied new measures on fishing in the North Sea but these were challenged by fishing interests.
The court denied the fishing industry’s challenge and said each nation had the right to apply conservation measures.
Steve Reed, the UK Environment Secretary, this week announced a consultation on byelaws that would ban bottom trawling with damaging nets and gears in 41 marine protected areas in English waters.
Charles Clover, co-founder of Blue Marine Foundation, said: “We applaud this tightening of the legal ratchet, on both sides of the English Channel, against the use of destructive fishing techniques in areas the public has every right to expect are protected. Long may this continue. Bans on destructive fishing in marine protected areas – backed by science – should be the rule throughout Europe. This is not before time.”
In the past two months the Commission has received complaints from NGOs in six EU countries, including France, for allowing trawling in marine protected areas.
