Resounding victory for British environment and science, crushing defeat for industrial fishing and the European Union

02 May 2025

On 28 April 2025, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague largely upheld the UK government’s decision of March 2024 to ban an industrial fishing technique in Scottish and English waters of the North Sea. This historic decision formally recognises the legitimacy of the UK’s approach, based on scientific data and the precautionary principle, to protecting marine biodiversity, and has put an end to the cabal of a coalition of European states seeking to reduce the UK’s environmental ambitions.

This is a victory for science, for justice and for the future of our planet. For the first time in the history of post-Brexit relations between the UK and the EU, an international court has recognised that environmental considerations can prevail over the short-term economic interests of the fishing industry.

The European Union and the industrial status quo rejected by the tribunal

Behind this decision to ban industrial sandeel fishing in the North and Scottish Seas lies a bigger and more symbolic victory for the future of our oceans: for the first time in UK-EU relations, a tribunal has confirmed on 4 out of 5 legal points that environmental law takes precedence over narrow fishing interests. In fact, not only does the court reject most of the EU’s arguments, finding that the UK’s decision to ban this industrial fishing technique is “based on the best available scientific advice” and “does not breach the principle of non-discrimination”, but the court also confirms that this measure will be implemented in Scottish waters and, after adaptation, in English waters.

Charles Clover, co-founder of the Blue Marine Foundation, said: “We welcome the tribunal’s decision and we are delighted that fishing does not have to resume in the sand eel fishing areas while the one remaining point about the ban in English waters is sorted out. The upheld ban will continue to have huge benefits for seabirds and fish as well as dolphins, whales and porpoises.”

For Swann Bommier, BLOOM’s Advocacy Officer “With this decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the European Union has discovered that blindly following the industrial fishing lobby is doomed to failure. The Court stressed that the measures implemented by the United Kingdom to protect the ocean were not discriminating against EU fisheries, but implementing international scientific recommendations to ensure the future of marine ecosystems and fisheries. It is high time for the EU to follow the UK government’s lead in combating the dramatic erosion of biodiversity and climate change”.

France and the European Union stopped in their anti-environmental campaign

BLOOM and the Blue Marine Foundation, which submitted an amicus curiae brief to The Hague Tribunal in support of the UK in this unprecedented case, acknowledge the progress of this decision, but they will continue in the coming months to ensure that these measures are respected, implemented and that the UK’s environmental ambitions are not compromised.

A few weeks before the presentation of the European Ocean Pact by the European Commissioner and the start of the United Nations Conference hosted by France, this announcement should be another electric shock for the European Union and France, as the second largest maritime power in the world, to face up to their responsibilities and finally announce real measures to protect their waters.