Campaigners are worried Keir Starmer's Government will back down (Image: Getty)
Campaigners have insisted that Sir Keir Starmer's Government stands firm against the European Union’s demands to lift a post-Brexit ban on sandeel fishing.
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Fishermen in Denmark are supporting a challenge by the EU to the UK ban, claiming they have lost half of their fishing grounds because of the new restrictions.
Kirsten Carter, head of UK marine policy at the RSPB, said: “Sandeels might only be a small fish but their importance as a food source for Puffins, Kittiwakes, and marine mammals like seals and whales is huge.
“Seabirds are in serious trouble, with 62% of species in the UK declining, many of which are of global significance. While factors such as climate change and bird flu have also put massive pressure on populations, the link between these declines and the availability of sandeels is clear.
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Puffins spotted in Bridlington, Yorkshire (Image: Getty)
“Securing the food that Puffins and many other internationally important species rely on is the single greatest measure that can build resilience and support their recovery. The RSPB has joined many other conservation organisations in calling for the EU to withdraw its challenge to these closures.
“The UK Government must stand firm as any compromise will mean less food for our already-struggling seabirds and less resilience in our seas.”
The European Union has written to the UK Government on behalf of Danish commercial fishing organisations, claiming the sandeel ban is in breach of international trade agreements put in place following Brexit.
Esben Sverdrup-Jensen, president of the European Association of Fish Producers Organisations, previously said the impact of the ban was hitting fishermen hard.
John Flesher, deputy director for the Conservative Environment Network, said "The last Conservative government deserves huge credit for harnessing our Brexit freedoms and banning sandeel fishing in the North Sea.
“This is good for sea life and good for precious British birds like puffins, and it builds on an impressive record of global ocean conservation.
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"By challenging this conservation measure, the EU is failing to respect the UK’s sovereignty. If the new Labour government is true to its word on restoring nature for the public, it must not hesitate to stand up to the EU and protect our native wildlife."
Meanwhile there is hope that puffins are making a comeback on their most important stronghold of St Kilda after being decimated by avian flu.
The archipelago - 41 miles west of the main Outer Hebrides - is home to a million seabirds and the largest Puffin colony in Britain.
Charles Clover, co-founder of the Blue Marine Foundation, said: “In March, the UK banned fishing for sandeels in all Scottish waters and the English North Sea. Now, in summer, Britain’s largest breeding colony of cute and comical puffins on St Kilda already seems to be doing well after being devastated by avian flu.
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“Could the two events by any chance be related? The owner of the islands, the National Trust for Scotland, says early puffling counts are good.
“The puffin parents are clearly finding plenty of sandeels under the steep cliffs to feed their balls of fluff.”
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Charles Clover, author and Co-Founder, Blue Marine Foundation
Fancy that. In March, the UK banned fishing for sandeels in all Scottish waters and the English North Sea.
Now, in summer, Britain’s largest breeding colony of cute and comical puffins on St Kilda already seems to be doing well after being devastated by avian ‘flu.
Could the two events by any chance be related?
The owner of the islands, the National Trust for Scotland, says early puffling counts are good.
The puffin parents are clearly finding plenty of sandeels under the steep cliffs to feed their balls of fluff.
They may have had a helping hand elsewhere too. Holidaymakers associate puffins with their breeding colonies in the west in summer, but in winter you will find them foraging all over the ocean.
I was delighted to see them, far out to sea, on an expedition to the Dogger Bank in the North Sea last November.
The obvious lesson that should be dawning on everyone is that birds do rather well when you stop taking away their principal source of food.
Remember, Britain banned fishing for sandeels not only because it could – Brexit, whatever you think of it, did make such decisions easier - but because it was also bound by the same law the EU has that says it must return its seabirds – fulmars, kittiwakes, puffins among others, not to mention harbour porpoises – to “good environmental status.”
The EU has lodged the first complaint under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement because we have done exactly that - by banning Danish sandeel trawlers which catch hundreds of thousands of tonnes of sandeels from UK waters. UK fishing vessels already face a ban.
The European Commission has now said this ban on the Danes is “disproportionate” and it wants alterations. What alterations? How would it go about returning these seabird populations – which the latest census says have declined 62 per cent and 70 per cent in Scottish waters since the early 2000s – to good health? Amazingly, it doesn’t say.
By all means reset our relationship with our European allies, but the UK must not let our wildlife down.
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