Environmental groups have launched legal action against bottom trawling in Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park, arguing that authorities have failed to adequately protect one of Europe’s most important marine conservation areas.
Environmental Action Germany (DUH), supported by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), has filed a case with the Schleswig-Holstein Administrative Court after lodging a complaint with the European Commission last year.
The organisations contend that the state government has not met its obligations under EU nature conservation law by allowing bottom trawling to continue without a mandatory environmental impact assessment.
Sascha Müller-Kraenner, executive director of DUH, said authorities had failed for decades to carry out the required assessment of fishing impacts.
“In the protected Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park, fishing is carried out using one of the most devastating fishing methods in the world,” he said. “The marine protected area must not exist merely as a paper park, and since the state government is failing to act, we are taking legal action.”
The groups are now seeking a court order requiring an assessment under the EU Habitats Directive and calling for a ban on bottom trawling within the national park.
According to DUH and EJF, more than 36,000 hours of bottom trawling are recorded annually in protected habitats within the park. Much of the activity is linked to brown shrimp fishing, which environmental groups say has contributed to the loss of sensitive habitats, including protected reef structures, while also affecting marine species through bycatch.
Efforts to reach agreement through a multi-stakeholder dialogue involving regulators, the fishing industry and environmental organisations ended without a resolution last year.
The case reflects a broader European push to strengthen protections in marine protected areas. Similar legal actions are under way in France, Spain and Sweden, while courts in France and the Netherlands have recently ruled that existing safeguards for protected marine habitats require stronger enforcement.
“Bottom trawling has no place in protected areas,” said Steve Trent, chief executive and founder of EJF. “These areas should be refuges where marine life can recover and thrive.”
