Press release
Nature organisations take Dutch government to court over destructive fishing
11.03.26
On 11 March, Stichting Doggerland, ARK Rewilding Nederland, ClientEarth and Blue Marine Foundation will appear before the District Court in The Hague against the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature over the protection of the Dogger Bank. This protected North Sea nature area should be a safe haven for marine life, yet the Dutch government allows destructive bottom trawling in most of it. In doing so, the government is breaking the law. Emilie Reuchlin, Director of Doggerland, is resolute: “Where the government has a duty to protect and restore nature in this area, we instead see continued decline. After ten years of wrangling over its use, this must end. We now demand clarity for both nature and the fishing sector.”
The nature organisations argue that the government must follow its own rules, which means that the Dutch section of the Dogger Bank protected area must be fully closed to bottom trawling. Fishing with heavy cables and nets dragged over the seabed has left a trail of destruction and severely damaged the Dogger Bank. Reuchlin explains: “Bottom trawling poses a huge threat to the nursery ground of the North Sea. It destroys all life in and on the seabed, including sharks, rays, long-lived shellfish, sea pens, anemones and corals. The protected status of the area is effectively a charade.”
Nursery of the North Sea
Despite the area’s poor condition, some threatened and protected species still survive in parts of the Dogger Bank. For example, around shipwrecks where marine life can find refuge, sharks still use the Dogger Bank as a nursery ground. The Dogger Bank is known as a breeding and feeding area for harbour porpoises, minke whales, grey seals, gannets, puffins, guillemots, razorbills and other protected seabirds. The seabed also stores carbon, making it important in the fight against climate change.
Karel van den Wijngaard, Programme Lead North Sea at ARK Rewilding Nederland, says: “The new government wants to implement the Nature Restoration Law and is seeking opportunities for large-scale recovery. We say: Start with the Dogger Bank, an area already legally protected. Provide the peace and space befitting a nursery ground and put an end to bottom trawling here.”
Nature restoration as a starting point
The North Sea is one of the busiest seas in the world. The accumulation of destructive fishing, intensive shipping and energy production, along with pollution and climate change, has left the North Sea and its protected areas in poor condition. The Netherlands has committed to international targets requiring that 30 per cent of the sea be effectively managed in protected areas by 2030.
Emilie Reuchlin emphasises: “Resilient ecosystems are essential: we depend on a living sea, and marine life itself has a right to exist. Yet less than one per cent of the Dutch North Sea is actually protected from all harmful activities. With only four years to go until 2030, we can no longer afford delays. The Dogger Bank should have been properly protected years ago.”
John Condon, Senior Lawyer with ClientEarth, said: “Natura 2000 protected areas should be among our most biodiverse places. But with the Netherlands flouting EU marine conservation laws, bottom trawling continues to lay waste to the Dogger Bank; the beating heart of the North Sea. This week’s hearing is about holding the Dutch government accountable for taking meaningful steps towards ensuring protected truly means protected.”
Dr Tom Appleby, Chief Legal Affairs Adviser to Blue Marine Foundation: “The Dogger Bank is the heart of the North Sea and is meant to have the same levels of protection in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. Yet the UK has closed nearly all of its portion to bottom trawling, Germany more than half and the Netherlands just over a quarter. But this is not just about the Netherlands meeting international commitments; the North Sea used to be one of the most fertile fisheries on earth. Removing bottom trawling would be a start to a resurgence in marine life, which would benefit everyone.”
EU legislation requires that nature in Natura 2000 areas - such as the Dogger Bank - must be protected from destructive human activities in order to recover. The United Kingdom closed its part of the Dogger Bank to bottom trawling four years ago based on the same legislation. In Germany, a similar legal case is underway to protect its section of the Dogger Bank from bottom trawling. Van den Wijngaard concludes: “Nature is incredibly resilient and can recover under the right conditions. But that will never happen if trawl nets keep scraping the seabed.”
ENDS
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ClientEarth is a non-profit organisation that uses the law to create systemic change that protects the Earth for – and with – its inhabitants. We are tackling climate change, protecting nature and stopping pollution, with partners and citizens around the globe. We hold industry and governments to account and defend everyone’s right to a healthy world. ClientEarth teams in Europe, Asia and the USA work to shape, implement and enforce the law, to build a future for our planet in which people and nature can thrive together.