A challenge to Britain’s ban on commercial fishing for sandeels in the North Sea has been dismissed by a European court.
Sandeels are a vital source of food for seabirds that live along the UK coastline.
A closure order was put in place in March 2024 to prohibit trawlers netting the tiny fish from English waters, following concerns that sandeel stocks were becoming too low.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration has ruled there is no legal obligation to reverse the closure order after the EU claimed the move was “discriminatory and disproportionate”, and could threaten the future of commercial sand eel fishing in Denmark.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), which manages Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire, was one of several conservation organisations that called for the measure to remain in place.
Beccy Speight, the RSPB’s chief executive, said: “We are absolutely delighted the panel has found the ecological case for the closure of industrial sandeel fishing is sound.”
The RSPB was one of a number of conservation organisations that gave evidence to the court hearing.
Ms Speight said: “Safeguarding sandeel stocks is a key part of the jigsaw that will help set our puffins, kittiwakes and the wider marine environment on the path to recovery.”
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) welcomed the EU court’s decision and said it had found “the UK successfully demonstrated that the measures taken to close English and Scottish waters were based on the best available science”.
