Puffins with a beak full of sandeels (Image: Getty)
Ministers must stand firm against EU bullies attempting to overturn a ban on sandeel fishing in UK waters, campaogners have warned.
The UK has banned European vessels from catching the silvery fish species in its North Sea waters to protect marine wildlife that depend on it for food.
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But the EU is challenging the move, arguing it discriminates against Danish vessels that fish sandeel commercially, breaching the post-Brexit trade deal.
Chris Thorne, senior oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: “The UK’s decision to ban fishing for sandeels, by any country, in both the English and Scottish waters of the North Sea must be upheld.
“Sandeels might not be our most famous or charismatic marine animals, but they are one of the foundations of the North Sea food web and are vital to populations of seabirds like puffins and kittiwakes and marine mammals like grey seals, whales and dolphins.”
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“The sandeel ban is one of the few significant strides that have been made towards improving the UK’s marine ecosystem since we left the EU. The UK was right to do it, and whilst the government has much to do to protect and restore 30% of oceans at home and globally by 2030, it would be a travesty to reverse this vital step that we’ve already made. If the EU is serious about environmental protection it should withdraw its legal challenge.”
“It’s worth noting that the Danish sandeel fishery is almost entirely used for consumption by salmon farms and in fish oil supplements, and therefore offers no direct contribution to food security. This is not a case of weighing up human need against environmental protection.
“It is a question of whether we continue to allow crucial habitats that have been trawled and dredged for hundreds of years to recover or whether we backtrack and reinstate an additional threat to our depleted marine ecosystem.”
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A three-day three-day trade tribunal hearing will begin on Tuesday after formal talks to resolve the wrangle failed.
It is the first time the two sides have gone to arbitration under the 2021 trade agreement agreed by Boris Johnson.
The case will be heard at the Permanent Court of Arbitration, a dispute resolution body based in the Hague, by a panel of three mutually-agreed international trade judges.
They could uphold the UK's position - or order the UK to change or drop its ban, in which case Brussels could ultimately retaliate with tariffs on British exports if ministers refused to comply.
A final ruling must be delivered by the end of April under the trade deal. There is no right to appeal.
The UK will soon prepare for negotiations with the EU over new catch limits from June next year, when current arrangements under the trade deal run out.
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Beccy Speight, chief executive of the RSPB, said: “The EU’s attempt to get this closure overturned risks pushing Puffins and other declining seabird species even closer to extinction from Great Britain.
"The UK and Scottish governments have rightly thrown their weight behind defending it but the EU must step back from the brink and focus on upholding its own obligations to protect and restore marine ecosystems.
“Unsustainable fishing, disease and the impacts of climate change are just some of the growing list of pressures seabirds face. By protecting an essential food source, an end to industrial sandeel fishing is the single greatest measure that can help set them on the path to recovery. If the EU succeeds in its cynical bid, this closure will be far from the only thing left dead in the water.”