According to French government sources, nine EU countries will meet in Brussels at the start of the week to discuss the impact of the UK’s decision to ban bottom fishing in 13 marine protected areas, a measure London says applies equally to its own fishermen and those from the EU.

The UK imposed the ban on bottom fishing in 13 marine protected areas on 22 March.

Under pressure from the national industrial fishing sector, France has assembled a coalition of member states to pressure the European Commission to impose sanctions on the UK for non-compliance with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) signed in 2020 by London and Brussels.

Bottom fishing involves dragging heavy nets along the ocean floor, a method environmental NGOs consider destructive.

In 2023, in its ‘EU Action Plan to protect and restore marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries’, the Commission asked member states to ban this practice in marine protected areas by 30 March 2024.

According to a recent report by several European NGOs, 90% of European marine protected areas are subject to this type of practice. At present, only Greece banned bottom fishing in its marine protected areas on 16 April.

France felt discriminated

Just after the British decision, the French Minister for Europe Jean-Noël Barrot visited the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France to reassure the local fishermen who can no longer access these fishing grounds.

He denounced a “potentially discriminatory” approach that could lead to “retaliatory” measures.

The agreement with the UK allows such measures to be taken (article 494), but they must be “proportionate” and “non-discriminatory”.

For the NGO Bloom, non-discrimination is self-evident given that the bans apply to both the European and British fleets.

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO), the UK public body behind the new rules, said the ban “will only introduce management measures that are non-discriminatory and apply equally to vessels wherever they fish”.

For Louis Gustin, director of the Comité Régional des Pêches des Haut de France, a region in which almost 50% of the fleet is affected, discrimination is not just a question of number of vessels.

The ban applies “in certain protected areas, such as in the strait between the Channel and the North Sea (the Goodwin Sands and Foreland areas), which target the French and Europeans because the British fleet uses other methods”, he told Euractiv.

In a report, the UK authority acknowledged that “due to the different levels of activity in the Goodwin Sands MPA, some countries may be more affected than others”.

According to a recent study by the Oceana association, only 6% of the 33,000 hours of bottom trawling carried out in British marine protected areas comes from British vessels. Three countries are mainly concerned: France, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Talks ongoing

Contacted by Euractiv, a European Commission spokesperson confirmed that talks are indeed taking place at this very moment with France.

“The Commission aims to resolve potential issues with the UK through dialogue, in a cooperative manner, in the first instance,” the spokesperson told Euractiv. “Having said that,” he added, “the Commission is committed to defending the rights of our fishers and we remain ready to use the tools under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement”.

In February 2024, Denmark and Sweden had already asked the Commission to act, following the UK decision to close sand eel fishing in part of the Dogger Bank in the North Sea to protect seabirds.

For the first time, on 16 April, the European Commission triggered the dispute settlement procedure under the trade agreement with the UK to find common ground on sand eel fishing.

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

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).

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