NGOs: EU countries still bottom fishing in protected areas despite recommendations

7 months ago 49

According to an EU action plan, member states were due to publish by 31 March a roadmap for achieving marine protected areas, including the phasing out of trawling fishing by 2030 but NGOs say the practice is still widely used, according to a report published on Tuesday (16 April).

The NGOs are urging the EU to do more to ban these “destructive” methods, while the fishing industry emphasises the strict rules already in force.

“Today’s analysis reveals a decade-long silent tragedy hitting EU seas and fishers – most countries are ignoring EU nature laws, with impunity, by allowing the most destructive fishing practices in the most sensitive and protected waters”, Nicolas Fournier, Oceana’s campaign director for marine protection in Europe, said in a press release.

Mobile bottom fishing, particularly bottom trawling, which involves dragging heavy trawls along the ocean floor, is accused of destroying ecosystems, releasing carbon trapped in the seabed, and harvesting huge quantities of fish indiscriminately.

Around 92% of all fish discards in the EU come from bottom trawl catches, according to the NGOs.

Still practised in 90% of MPAs

For several years now, NGOs have been calling for an end to these activities in marine protected areas, many of which are part of the Natura 2000 network. MPAs currently cover 12% of European waters.

Created in 1992 under the EU Habitats Directive, Natura 2000 areas require member states to take appropriate measures to prevent the deterioration of natural habitats and the species that live there but do not prohibit human activities such as fishing.

“Very few sites actually have the management plans or measures needed to offer real protection to habitats and species that desperately need it, and that member states have a legal responsibility to ensure,” the report stated.

At the end of February 2023, the European Commission presented an EU Marine Action Plan aimed in particular at phasing out mobile bottom fishing in marine protected areas by 2030, starting with Natura 2000 areas.

According to the plan, by 31 March 2024, countries had to submit national roadmaps setting out how they intend to phase out bottom trawling in these areas.

While these roadmaps have not been made public, the NGOs complained that bottom trawling is still practised in 90% of Natura 2000 marine protected areas off the EU coast.

Using data from Global Fishing Watch (GFW) and its satellite tracking of vessels, the NGOs analysed the situation in seven member states (Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden) and found a lack of action in most of them.

The countries considered have carried out the equivalent of 4.4 million hours of bottom trawling between 2015 and 2023, or the equivalent of 500 years of trawling, according to the organisations.

Dutch boats dragged their nets over almost 9,400 square kilometres of protected areas (71% of Natura 2000 areas) and carried out half the bottom fishing in Europe (2.1 million hours), followed by German, Danish, and Spanish vessels.

Already strict rules for the sector

The NGOs called on the EU to do more than merely “encourage” member states to ban mobile bottom fishing by 2030: to prohibit it in all MPAs and at all depths.

For the European Bottom Fishing Alliance (EBFA), which represents more than 20,000 fishermen and 7,000 European vessels, the European rules already in force are already very restrictive and sometimes “unjustified”.

Since 2016, the European Union has banned trawling below the depth of 800 metres. Since 2022, all bottom fishing has been banned below 400 metres in the most sensitive areas (1.6% of EU waters) and for all bottom fishing – “mobile” such as trawling and “static” such as longlines or traps.

The fishing industry denounced a “lack of high-quality scientific data” in identifying these protected ecosystems, and unfair competition between European countries that do not engage in the same practices. It also called for fishing rights for static gear below 400 metres.

On Monday (15 April), the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), which coordinates and promotes marine research on oceanography, published an opinion showing that it is possible to reduce the footprint of bottom trawling at minimum economic cost.

According to the organisation, closing 30% of European waters to bottom fishing would result in a minimal reduction in landings, from 0.1% to 6.6% per year, due to the concentration of fishing grounds.

But for Oceana’s Fournier, “if it is to meet its marine biodiversity targets by 2030, the next European Commission has no other option but to enforce a ban on bottom trawling in EU MPAs”.