In a major victory for Europe’s marine protected areas, a Dutch court recently ruled against unpermitted bottom trawling in the Dogger Bank, the most ecologically important sandbank of the North Sea, also known as ‘the nursery of the North Sea’.
This is the first known ruling in Europe where a court has confirmed that governments have a responsibility to properly regulate the impact of bottom trawling on marine protected areas. It puts further pressure on the European Commission and EU countries to phase out mobile bottom fishing in such protected areas.