The Dutch government is facing legal action for “flouting” EU conservation law and failing to safeguard an area of protected marine space known as the Dogger Bank from a destructive fishing practice called bottom trawling.

Levied by a consortium of environmental NGOs including ClientEarth, Doggerland Foundation, and the Blue Marine Foundation, the lawsuit is just the latest in a string of similar challenges across the EU, highlighting the number of Member States currently failing to uphold their legal marine protections obligations.

Despite its severely degraded state, the Dogger Bank is often referred to as the ecological heart of the North Sea where it spans UK, Dutch, German, and Danish waters. It’s an area crucial for supporting endangered, threatened, and protected marine species.

It’s also an area that has been subjected to years of a fishing practice known as bottom trawling, notorious for its destructive environmental impact on marine habitats. It’s a process in which weighted nets are dragged along the seabed to catch species like cod and flatfish, leaving a trail of untold habitat destruction in its wake and spelling certain 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. Certain EU Member States, in stark contrast however, have been accused of “blatantly lagging behind”, refusing to agree measures of equal standard for the rest of the Dogger Bank in EU waters.

While EU law forbids damaging human activities in certain MPAs, further accusation has been levied at the Dutch government of “flouting” such laws by “systematically allowing bottom trawling in the Dogger Bank”.

The lawsuit it now faces follows the launch, last year, of similar legal action against the German government for its failure to protect the German part of the area.

Emilie Reuchlin, founder and director of Doggerland Foundation, said: “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.”

Earlier this year, the same consortium of NGOs filed an administrative request to demand that the Netherlands revoke fishing permits allowing bottom trawling in the Dogger Bank MPA. The 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.

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. Given that some Member States are still allowing bottom trawling in these Marine Protected Areas, a positive court ruling for ClientEarth could have far-reaching consequences for MPAs across the EU and for marine conservation objectives.

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 protection rules. That’s why we’re taking the issue to court – we want to ensure that ‘protected’ truly means ‘protected’.”

Elsewhere, 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.

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