Despite EU legal challenges, UK sand eel fishing ban remains | Fish

Despite legal challenges in the EU, sand eels will still fish in British waters.

Small silver eels make up the majority of the seabird diet, but they are used in commercial pig food. A lack of sand eels means that seabirds (such as puffins) will starve to death.

After Britain left the EU, the former Conservative government banned European countries from fishing for sand eels in British waters.

The EU resorted to the UK to support Denmark, the largest sand eel fishing fleet. Lawyers believe ministers have not considered the “economic and social” impact of the ban. They use the EU trade and cooperation agreement dispute resolution mechanism to challenge the ban.

The ruling found that the decision to close sand eel fishing in Scottish waters was fully maintained, but in the decision-making process, British waters closed British waters in the form of sand eel fishing, and the UK's principle of comparison is not sufficient, especially those related to EU rights during the adjustment period. Ministers said they will restore compliance to the process, but they do not need to reopen the fishery while doing so.

Nature activists celebrated the decision. Beccy Speight, CEO of the Royal Society for Conservation of Ornithology, said: “We are very pleased that the team found that closing the ecological case of industrial sand eel fishing is also reasonable. In addition, the UK government has the right to restrict sand eel fishing in rural UK areas to protect this valuable food source to protect this reduced Seabirds.

“This has been a great example of collaboration between the UK and Scottish governments, and all those in civil society across the UK and the EU that have campaigned long and hard for our threatened seabirds. We now expect the UK government and the EU to move forward and make this closure permanent. Safeguarding sand eel 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.”

Ben Reynolds, executive director of Green Thinktank Ieep UK, said: “The decision of the court is welcome news for the environment and found that despite procedural errors found in the English-language case, there is no legal obligation to reverse the liability for closure. This is one of the only problems in the UK in the UK, which is the ability to use the subsequent EU to conduct EU restrictions after competition.

A government spokesman said: “We welcome the clarity provided by this decision and we will conduct a process in good faith to comply with the specific issues raised by the court. The ruling does not mean that the UK is legally obliged to reverse the closure of British waters and that the decision to close Waters in Scotland was fully detained.”