13 May 2025
Commissioner Kostas Kadis continues to waver on bottom trawling in marine protected areas
13 May 2025
This Tuesday morning, several ocean advocacy organizations, including BLOOM, Oceana, Seas at Risk, Client Earth, Environmental Justice Foundation, Blue Marine Foundation and Ocean Alive, took part in a meeting with the European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Kostas Kadis. The purpose of the meeting was to hand over to him the two petitions signed by Patagonia, We Move Europe and Only One, and signed by over 250,000 European citizens, calling for a ban on bottom trawling in European marine protected areas[1] . However, the meeting with Commissioner Kadis revealed that the Commission is still far from having taken the measure of the social, climatic and environmental emergency facing us.
The meeting with the European Commissioner followed closely the release of David Attenborough’s film Ocean, which shows never-before-seen footage of how bottom trawling destroys marine life. In the run-up to the Third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in France, where nations are expected to announce new commitments, particularly to protect marine ecosystems, the eyes of the world will be on Europe and its marine protection policy. Unfortunately, at this stage, the European Union is not doing enough yet.
A problematic reception that raises questions
The meeting with Commissioner Kadis didn’t get off to the best of starts. Although the meeting began with a photo session with those present, his office refused to have him to appear in photographs with the banner bearing the message “250,000 Europeans call for an end to bottom trawling in marine protected areas”. From the outset, the signal was implicit but clear: this demand, although supported by science and defended by nearly a quarter of a million EU citizens, is controversial for the Commissioner. Displaying the Commissioner alongside this banner would risk provoking the wrath of the industrial fishing lobbies, who on the other hand have already been received by the Commissioner and declared themselves very satisfied with the support he promised them[1].
After the photo session, there was another setback: only a few of those welcomed to the Commission’s premises were allowed to attend the meeting: the representatives of Patagonia and WeMove Europe, two representatives of the NGOs Oceana and Ocean Alive, and the two photographers and activists Inka Cresswell and Julia Ochs. The icing on the cake: the exchange time, initially set at 50 minutes, was reduced to 30 minutes. Only half an hour was devoted to listening to European citizens, environmental NGOs and scientists who have been working for years to bring the urgent need for a genuine European policy to protect the marine environment into the public debate.
A glaring lack of concrete commitments
During this short meeting, the NGOs questioned the Commissioner on the “case-by-case” approach recently advocated by the Commissioner[2]. This approach, advocated by the trawl lobby, gives trawlers a blank check to continue operating in so-called “protected” areas, provided their impact on biodiversity is “tolerable”. This is an absolute contradiction, turning its back on the scientific consensus on the protection of marine ecosystems and aiming to preserve the status quo. Indeed, trawling is one of the most destructive and least selective fishing techniques, with a major and lasting impact on biodiversity. It can in no way be considered “tolerable” in so-called protected areas. What’s more, banning trawling in all protected areas, argue the NGOs, would also be in line with the objectives of administrative and legislative simplification championed by the current European Commission. Introducing a system of case-by-case derogations for all the EU’s marine protected areas, with the site-specific analyses and studies this would require, would in fact require the creation of a veritable administrative monstruosity. In response, although the Commissioner stated that he was convinced of the need to phase out bottom trawling in protected areas and encourage the transition to small-scale fishing, he maintained a very vague position, with no commitments and based on a gradual transition, without proposing a precise timeframe for implementation.
This wait-and-see approach echoes the draft European Pact for the Oceans which has been leaked to the press, with official publication expected in early June, and which is intended to set the course for European maritime policy over the coming years. Indeed, the draft leaked to the press does not include the slightest reference to trawling, its end or, more generally, to the fishing industry’s transition to more sustainable practices. Ending destructive fishing is clearly not one of the Commissioner’s priorities.
Following the meeting, Commissioner Kadis was quick to communicate on his social networks accounts[3] , presenting the image of a mediator who listens to all stakeholders. This posture of “good referee” contrasts sharply with the rushed nature of the meeting and the lack of concrete commitments made. BLOOM deplores this attitude, which seems to have more to do with a communication strategy than with a genuine political will to effectively protect our oceans by taking into account the voice of citizens and the recommendations made by scientists.
A citizen mobilization that will not weaken
With a historic United Nations conference on the oceans just a few weeks away, we and our partners remain determined to continue the fight to ban destructive fishing practices in marine protected areas. The petitions from Patagonia, WeMove and Only One, as well as the petition we are running to ask French President Emmanuel Macron for genuine marine protected areas, bear witness to the massive mobilization of French and European citizens on this crucial issue for the future of our marine ecosystems.
Despite the European Commission’s prevarication and reluctance to welcome and exchange with citizens and scientists, we will continue to fight for the protection of the ocean and the living beings that inhabit it.
The European Commission is due to present its Ocean Pact on June 4. The European Commissioner therefore has three weeks left to change tack and adopt an ambitious policy capable of responding to the collapse of biodiversity and climate change that threaten our future.
Sign our petition to demand an end to destructive fishing in marine protected areas.
[1] https://europeche.chil.me/post/europeche-welcomes-commissioner-kadis-commitment-to-supporting-the-eu-fishing-se-483787
[2] https://bloomassociation.org/la-societe-civile-les-pecheurs-et-la-communaute-scientifique-pressent-le-commissaire-kadis-daffirmer-que-le-chalutage-de-fond-na-pas-sa-place-dans-les-aires-marines-protegees/