Press release
Netherlands faces court as pressure to end bottom trawling in marine protected areas mounts
9 January 2025
- Environmental NGOs are filing a lawsuit in a Dutch court over bottom trawling [1] in the Dogger Bank marine protected area (MPA) in Dutch waters
- Legal experts flag a systemic lack of protection of EU MPAs
- A win would send a strong signal to EU institutions and other Member States to respect EU conservation laws and protect vulnerable marine species and habitats
Environmental NGOs ClientEarth, Doggerland Foundation, Blue Marine Foundation and ARK Rewilding are filing legal action against the Dutch government, challenging bottom trawling that has been authorised in the Dogger Bank in violation of EU conservation law.
It’s the latest in a string of similar challenges in EU Member States, as countries fail to stick to legal marine protection obligations.
The Dogger Bank, despite its severely degraded state, is often referred to as the ecological heart of the North Sea. It spans the UK, Dutch, German and Danish waters. This iconic area supports endangered, threatened and protected species. [2]
Bottom trawling is notorious for its destructive environmental impact on marine habitats. Weighted nets are dragged along the seabed to catch species like cod and flatfish. It causes habitat destruction and is a disaster for the ocean’s crucial role in storing carbon.
The UK government has already recognised the legal and ecological need to protect the Dogger Bank by closing it in its entirety in UK waters to fishing with bottom towed gear. By contrast, EU countries are blatantly lagging behind and have refused to agree measures of equal standard for the rest of the Dogger Bank in EU waters.
EU law forbids damaging human activities in certain MPAs. [3] But the Dutch government is flouting those laws by systematically allowing bottom trawling in the Dogger Bank. Another lawsuit was launched last year against the German government, for failure to protect the German part of the area.
Emilie Reuchlin, founder and director of Doggerland Foundation: “The Dogger Bank serves as the nursery for the whole North Sea ecosystem. Protecting this area is vital to restore the exhausted, degraded and polluted North Sea. It is a much needed first step into turning it into a functioning and thriving sea, upon which our lives and societies depend.”
John Condon, marine conservation lawyer at ClientEarth, said: “Marine Protected Areas should be sanctuaries, not grounds for destructive fishing practices. These zones are meant to safeguard vulnerable ecosystems, yet the Netherlands is flouting EU marine protection rules. That’s why we’re taking the issue to court – we want to ensure that ‘protected’ truly means ‘protected’.”
Dr Tom Appleby, Chief Legal Affairs Adviser to Blue Marine Foundation said: “The Netherlands has long-standing commitments under European and international law to protect the Dogger Bank from harmful human activities. The site was designated in 2009 and protection should have started even before that. There has been plenty of time to plan for its restoration.”
Earlier this year, the NGOs filed an administrative request to demand that the Netherlands revoke fishing permits allowing bottom trawling in the Dogger Bank MPA. Their request was rejected, so they have now escalated the claim by filing a lawsuit with the administrative court in the Hague.
NGOs have also called for the EU to take ambitious actions and provide stronger financial support to ensure a just transition to a low-impact and sustainable blue economy, which would benefit activities such as fishing and enable thriving coastal communities not only in the Netherlands but across the EU.
Given that other Member States are still allowing bottom trawling in Marine Protected Areas, a positive court ruling could have far-reaching consequences for MPAs across the EU and for marine conservation objectives.
Last year, ClientEarth and BLOOM, supported by the Med Sea Alliance, filed a separate lawsuit against France for allowing bottom trawling in Mediterranean MPAs. ClientEarth and Oceana, supported by Seas At Risk [4], also filed a lawsuit against Spain for allowing bottom trawling in Atlantic and Mediterranean MPAs.
According to new research, over 80% of MPAs are currently deemed ineffective because they provide only marginal protection against destructive industrial activities such as bottom trawling.
Greece and Sweden have announced they will ban or strongly restrict bottom trawling in their marine protected areas, and the Scottish government has proposed bottom trawling bans in 20 MPAs.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
[1] By bottom trawling, we refer to all fishing methods that deploy bottom-towed fishing gear, including but not limited to beam trawling, otter board trawling, electric pulse trawling, demersal seining, flyshooting and dredging.
[2] The Dogger Bank is a spawning ground for sharks, rays, cod, mackerel, herring, whiting, common sole and sprat. It functions as a nursery and feeding ground for harbour porpoises, minke whales, grey seals, gannets, puffins and other seabirds that come to feed on sandeel and other fish. But the large, long-lived shellfish such as flat oyster, ocean quahog and horse mussels have almost completely disappeared.
[3] Marine Protected Areas have different levels of protection. In this case, the NGOs are basing their lawsuit on the 1992 Habitats Directive, which establishes a protection framework for both marine and terrestrial biodiversity in Europe, and creates a network of protected areas, known as Natura 2000, which Member States have to manage effectively in order to achieve specific conservation objectives. The Dogger Bank in the Netherlands has been protected as a Natura 2000 area since 2009.
[4] This litigation is part of a pan-European project to deliver real protection and effective management of EU Marine Protected Areas, co-led by Seas At Risk and Oceana, with legal support from ClientEarth.
About ClientEarth
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. From our offices in Europe, Asia and the USA we shape, implement and enforce the law, to build a future for our planet in which people and nature can thrive together.
About Doggerland Foundation
Doggerland Foundation combats violations of legislation for marine nature conservation through legal interventions and addresses the lack of ambition with nature restoration projects, while improving the representation and rights of the sea in decision-making processes. Doggerland Foundation is focused on the Dogger Bank because despite its severely degraded status, it has great potential to empower North Sea wide ecosystem restoration. Protecting, restoring and rewilding the Dogger Bank can function as a marine restoration blueprint to transform European ‘paper parks’ to real and effective marine protected areas (MPAs). Effective networks of MPAs are vital to restore the exhausted, degraded and polluted North Sea into a functioning and thriving sea, upon which our lives and societies depend.
About ARK Rewilding Foundation
ARK Rewilding Netherlands has been a driver of wild nature in the Netherlands since 1989, and is one of the founders of Rewilding Europe. Rewilding ia all about creating more and wilder nature based on trust in - and using the own strength of - nature. On land, in rivers and at sea, ARK has shown that rewilding works. In 2024, ARK is concentrating its expertise in seven leading field projects, and facilitating a network of new rewilders to get started themselves.
About Blue Marine Foundation
Blue Marine Foundation is a UK ocean conservation charity set up in 2010 by some of the team behind the award-winning documentary film ‘The End of the Line’. Blue Marine is dedicated to addressing overfishing, one of the world’s biggest environmental problems and aims to restore the ocean to health by protecting and restoring marine environments. Its mission is to ensure the effective protection of at least 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030 and the sustainable management of the whole ocean.
About Seas At Risk
Seas At Risk is a Brussels-based NGO campaigning for the protection and restoration of the marine environment. Together with its 30+ members from all over Europe, it works to make sure that life in our seas and oceans is abundant, diverse, climate-resilient, and not threatened by human activities.
About Oceana
Oceana is the largest international advocacy organisation focused entirely on protecting and restoring the world’s ocean. Since its founding in 2001, Oceana seeks to make our oceans more biodiverse and abundant by winning policy victories in the countries that govern much of the world’s marine life. Oceana in Europe has offices in Madrid, Brussels, and Copenhagen.