EU ministers due to set next year’s fishing limits for the Baltic Sea have been taken to court accused of enabling overfishing.
In a case filed before the Court of Justice of the EU on the eve of the meeting where the limits were due to be set, ClientEarth lawyers challenged two previous EU Council decisions, which they say ignored scientific advice.
“The extremely worrying state of certain Baltic Sea stocks is a cautionary tale – this is what happens when you don’t listen to scientific advice and exceed the sustainable limits of what you can take from the sea for years. We are taking legal action to ensure we don’t end up in the same situation in the North-East Atlantic,” said Arthur Meeus, ClientEarth fisheries lawyer.
“EU ministers must take action before it is too late, before we drive this ecosystem to the brink too.”
Court challenge
This is the first time ClientEarth lawyers are directly challenging all EU fisheries ministers via the Council thanks new EU access to justice rules.
In March and May 2022, ClientEarth asked the Council to review its decisions setting unsustainable limits in the North-East Atlantic for EU only and EU-UK shared stocks.
This is the first step in the ‘internal review’ process which allows NGOs and civil society to challenge EU decisions. The Council refused to review its decision, prompting lawyers to file a case before the General Court of the European Union – the first chamber of the Court of Justice of the EU.
Mr Meeus said that commercial fish stocks are still in a bad shape in Europe, after ministers failed to fulfil their legal obligation to end overfishing by 2020. The Baltic Sea is in a particularly dire state – most of its commercial stocks, including cod, have collapsed – 93% of Mediterranean stocks within EU waters are overfished and 40% of stocks in the North-East Atlantic are considered to be in bad shape.
Negotiations for the Baltic Sea will come to an end this week and EU fisheries ministers will meet again in December to set the fishing limits for the North-East Atlantic, including for stocks shared between the EU and the UK.
