European justice condemns Commission’s inaction on illegal subsidies for electric fishing

07 January 2025

This is a major step forward for social justice, which sends a strong signal to those who exploit the ocean with impunity : the European Union court has recognized that the European Commission has failed in its obligations to control state aids. Since 2018, we have been denouncing the inaction of the European Commission which has refrained, despite our numerous appeals and complaints, from controlling the subsidies granted by the Netherlands to industrialists to promote the illegal development of electric fishing. BLOOM, in close collaboration with fishermen, obtained a ban on this devastating fishing method throughout the European Union in 2019. The ban has been in force since July 1^st 2021.

It is now up to the European Commission to comply with the ruling of the European Union court by finally examining the legality of the national aids paid by the Netherlands and imposing the appropriate sanctions.

BLOOM will continue to monitor the proper administration of the European Commission. The latter has shown itself to be particularly resistant, throughout this dossier, to the idea of controlling Dutch industrial fishing.

In March 2021, BLOOM, LIFE and a collective of 36 European fishermen lodged an appeal with the European Union Court of First Instance, seeking a declaration that the European Commission had failed to act when exercising its control over state aids. More specifically, the case concerned two categories of subsidies paid for the development of electric fishing in the Netherlands: European subsidies, under funds earmarked for fisheries, and national subsidies paid by the Netherlands to the vessels concerned.

In a judgment of November 13, 2024, the European Union court proved us right! It found that the Commission, in its replies to the plaintiffs, had confined itself to examining the funds linked to the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) and the EMFAF (European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund), without looking into the five aid measures granted by the Dutch authorities, the amount of which ranged from 880,000 euros to 74 million euros. In other words, the European Commission simply refused to examine the legality of the national aids used by the Netherlands to finance this destructive method. As a result, the court concludes that the European Commission has manifestly failed to fulfill its obligations in terms of state aids control, and has demonstrated its failure to act. “This decision reveals the European Commission’s passivity in the face of a case of flagrant violation of state aids rules, and serves as a reminder of the responsibility the institution has to assume in exercising its control over states,” enthuses Laetitia Bisiaux, who has been in charge of the case since 2017.

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This ruling represents much more than a legal victory. “For over seven years, BLOOM has relentlessly denounced the multiple frauds committed by the Netherlands, in particular the licenses that were illegally allocated, which the European Commission refused to sanction. Now we’re calling for justice for the ocean and for artisanal fishing communities, who are also victims of this industrial drift,” explains Laetitia Bisiaux.

BLOOM points out that the Dunkerque auction closed in 2020, and that the number of small vessels in the Hauts-de-France region has been cut threefold in a decade due to overfishing of sole, targeted by electric trawlers.

Electric fishing is not only economically unfair, it’s also an ecological disaster. Trawls fitted with electrodes scrape the seabed with electric shocks. The fish underwent violent muscular contractions to dislodge them. Some species, such as cod, emerged broken: fractures, internal haemorrhaging, while eggs and larvae suffered increased mortality.

We also owe this milestone victory to the tremendous pro bono work and dedication of Cleary Gottlieb’s legal team, made up of François-Charles Laprévote (Brussels), Frédéric de Bure and Taieb Otmani (Paris), whom we warmly thank for their unfailing support.

This ruling is a victory for ocean protection at a time when the Netherlands is lobbying hard to reverse the ban on electric fishing decided by the European institutions in February 2019. The European Commission must now investigate the complaint, formally deal with the illegal aids and impose sanctions, as requested by the claimants since 2021.