On the eve of a crucial court hearing to determine the fate of the current ban on sandeel fishing in the UK’s North Sea, ocean advocates have warned that any move made by the EU to put economic short term interests over long-term marine recovery will “jeopardise the future of our oceans for generations to come”.

The Marine Conservation Society is among those in strong opposition to the position taken by the EU to overturn a fishing ban on sandeel stocks in the UK’s North Sea.

Since April last year, the English North Sea, as well as all of Scotland’s waters, have been closed off to sandeel fishing; a ban that was implemented by the UK’s then Conservative government. 

Sandeel fishing in English and Scottish waters has, since then, been the subject of fierce debate and a political tug of war between Keir Starmer’s Labour government and the EU, which has challenged the closures, citing a breach of the Trade & Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the EU and the UK.

Through the TCA, the EU argues that the sandeel fishery closures across the Scottish and English regions of the North Sea “unfairly impact one nation”, pushing the process to arbitration. This marks the first time the TCA – a post-Brexit agreement – has been challenged.

Denmark, which holds more than 90% of the EU sandeel fishing quota has – along with Sweden – initiated legal proceedings against the UK Government. Historically, Denmark has taken around 250,000 tonnes of sandeels annually from British waters, amounting to several billion fish worth in the region of £40 million.

It’s a sizeable industry for Denmark, whose fishing fleet have primarily used bottom-towed gear to fish for sandeels. The market for sandeels is primarily in the production of oil and fishmeal protein which is largely used in fish farming and land animal feed. Rarely are they fished for direct human consumption. 

They are however, ocean advocates have been quick to highlight, a cornerstone species in a marine ecosystem and are a staple food for endangered seabirds such as puffins and kittiwakes – as well as cetaceans such as whales and dolphins, alongside a wide range of commercial fish including mackerel, cod, and haddock. 

Sandeels breed and grow in the shallow sand banks of the North Sea. They hibernate over winter and spawn in the following spring. As a cold-water species, climate change poses a significant threat, but that is just one of numerous pressures they face. Fixed wind farms – often built on the sandbanks of the North Sea – and overfishing have also been listed among their biggest threats.

Sandeels have a critical role to play in marine ecology. The Marine Conservation Society has been vocal in its argument that – with UK seabirds currently in decline – it is “essential we ensure they have enough food to feed their chicks” and for adults to be able to “build up enough energy supplies to weather winter storms.” This is a vital food source, therefore, that sandeels provide.

Gareth Cunningham, director of conservation and policy at Marine Conservation Society, said: “Sandeels are vital to the UK’s internationally valuable seabird populations, harbour porpoises, seals, and even chip-shop favourites like cod and haddock

“These tiny fish are a cornerstone of marine food webs, critical to restoring our seas. Closing UK waters to sandeel fishing has provided a lifeline for marine life across the North Sea, and demonstrates global leadership in tackling climate and nature crises.”

The role that sandeels play in marine ecosystems first gained critical recognition in 2000 when sandeel fisheries off the east coast of Scotland and the northeast of England were first closed. The more recent closure of the Dogger Bank Special Area of Conservation (SAC) to bottom towed gear was undertaken as part of compliance with the Habitats Regulations, to protect the rare and sensitive seabed features.

It came with the added benefit of providing an additional safe haven for the sandeels breeding there. These are areas that have been hard fought over, however, throughout the Brexit process. Currently, the EU is arguing that the sandeel fishing ban in the English and Scottish North Sea discriminates against Danish vessels and is, therefore, in breach of the UK-EU trade deal which set out full fishing access to UK waters.

The UK Government’s defence is that all decisions have been reached using the best scientific evidence available and will reject the claim that the ban is discriminatory against the Danish fleet, noting that it applies to all vessels.

The Labour Government’s desire to ‘reset’ UK-EU relations has been well reported on in the media, however, as is its stance on current environmental rules. If the UK loses the case, it could be ordered to alter or drop its fishing ban, or be faced with trade tariffs.

Charles Clover, co-founder of the Blue Marine Foundation, has said that such an eventuality could be “catastrophic” for environmental protection and could usher in further challenges to Britain’s other marine protections.

“How can it be right for one nation to insist on fishing in another nation’s marine protected areas?” he told Oceanographic Magazine. “Let alone for the EU to impose a requirement that conservation must not cause economic harm that does not exist in the EU’s own Habitats Directive. The EU already has a far better deal than it should have under the Brexit agreement. They get to fish within the UK’s 12 mile territorial limit.”

In March last year, France asked the EU to investigate whether Britain’s ban on bottom trawling in marine reserves breached the terms of the trade agreement. The EU has since argued that the wide area covered by the ban is ‘not justified’ by the scientific advice on stock levels used by the UK. In submissions to the court, it said that fluctuations in sandeel populations were due to “natural mortality not associated directly or indirectly with the North Sea sandeel fishery.”

As reported by The Guardian, Esben Sverdrup-Jensen, president of the European Association of Fish Producers Organisations (EAPO), says the Danish sandeel fishery was worth £42 million and was one of the “most important fisheries for Danish communities on the west coast”.

“The rules and provisions (of the trade deal) are very clear,” he said. “There is plenty of room for environmental protection but it has to be based on scientific advice. There is no solid scientific advice for a ban of this magnitude in UK waters.”

Conservationists have called the EU’s stance a “political powderkeg” that has only managed to “unite conservationists and fishing groups across the UK”. 

“When the UK and the EU collectively face very uncertain political and economic futures, it seems incredible that anyone would want to include the inflammatory but economically insignificant issue of fisheries as a condition of the softening of relations between the EU and the UK,” said Clover.

“But astonishingly, it’s not as if the EU speaks with one voice in making these unreasonable demands; while France wants to fish in the UK’s protected areas, Sweden and Greece want to protect over 30% of their waters by 2030. The EU, which was founded to achieve common standards, is being wildly inconsistent.”

A court decision on the UK’s sandeel fisheries is not expected until April when there will be no room for appeal.

Click here for more from the Oceanographic Newsroom.