NGOs – the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC), Seas At Risk, Oceana and ClientEarth – welcome last night’s Swedish government proposal (1) to amend legislation, paving the way for a future ban on bottom trawling in Swedish marine protected areas. NGOs celebrate this as an important milestone and urge other EU governments to follow the Swedish initiative and deliver effective marine conservation. Each country has a responsibility to protect its marine environment for the benefit of coastal communities and future generations. 

Bottom trawling is a fishing method that devastates marine ecosystems and releases carbon stored in the seabed into the water. By banning bottom trawling in protected areas, large areas with rich biodiversity will receive much stronger protection, to the benefit of fishers, coastal communities and the climate. 

Tatiana Nuño, Senior Marine Policy Officer at Seas At Risk said: “Coming just months after Greece made a similar commitment, we are witnessing the emergence of a hopeful trend toward real, meaningful protection for our ocean. While Sweden and Greece are leading the way, other EU countries lag behind, allowing destructive practices to continue unchecked in their protected areas. The European Commission must act decisively to ensure that the EU aligns and complies with EU laws, ensuring protected’ means protected.”

To truly safeguard all protected areas, the government must take additional steps. This includes giving  the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management a clear mandate to work with the European Commission to establish a total bottom trawling ban in all protected areas within its exclusive economic zone. It is also essential for the government to avoid granting extensive exemptions that would undermine the ban’s effectiveness. 

Beatrice Rindevall, Chair of the SSNC said: “This is an important step in the right direction for corals, sharks, rays, and other unique and threatened species in Sweden’s seas. They will soon be able to live in better-protected areas and be spared from destructive fishing practices that obliterate entire seabed ecosystems. Bottom trawling is comparable to plowing a flower meadow. Coral colonies that have taken centuries to grow can be destroyed in a single trawl pass, while sponges and anemones are crushed and lost. It’s obvious that such a harmful fishing method should not be allowed in protected areas.”

Nicolas Fournier, Campaign Director at Oceana in Europe, said: “Sweden’s proposed law which will pave the way for prohibiting bottom trawling in marine protected areas is incredibly timely as momentum is growing ahead of the UN Ocean Conference in June, where  the EU will be expected to show action to match their claims of international ocean leadership. This should also inspire the future EU Ocean Pact, led by Commissioner Kadis, as conserving ocean biodiversity havens directly benefits the EU blue economy, particularly in protecting fishers’ livelihoods and supporting coastal communities.”

Bottom trawling still happens in the marine protected areas of most EU countries despite the EU Habitats Directive requiring their protection (2). For this reason, in recent months NGOs have launched several lawsuits against national governments including Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain and Sweden for failing to protect designated marine protected areas. 

END

NOTES TO EDITORS 

  1.  Announcement by the Swedish Government, Legislation, Text of the Legislation
  2. EU Habitats Directive art 6: obligation to establish appropriate conservation measures for protected areas and ensure no adverse effects on site integrity.   

BACKGROUND

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation is one of nine NGOs working as part of a pan-European project to deliver real protection and effective management of EU marine protected areas. The project is co-led by Seas At Risk and Oceana, with legal support from ClientEarth.

Seas At Risk is a Brussels-based NGO campaigning for the protection and restoration of the marine environment. Together with its 30+ members from all over Europe, it works to make sure that life in our seas and oceans is abundant, diverse, climate-resilient, and not threatened by human activities.  

Oceana is the largest international advocacy organisation focused entirely on ocean conservation. Since its founding in 2001, Oceana seeks to make our oceans more biodiverse and abundant by winning policy victories in the countries that govern much of the world’s marine life. Oceana in Europe has offices in Madrid, Brussels, and Copenhagen.  

ClientEarth is a non-profit organisation that uses the law to create systemic change that protects the Earth for – and with – its inhabitants. It is tackling climate change, protecting nature and stopping pollution, with partners and citizens around the globe. It holds industry and governments to account, and defends everyone’s right to a healthy world. From its offices in Europe, Asia and the USA it shapes, implements and enforces the law, to build a future for our planet in which people and nature can thrive together. 

Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) is the largest member-based non-profit environmental organisation in Sweden, with the power to bring about change. It spreads knowledge, charts environmental threats, proposes solutions and influences politicians and authorities, both nationally and internationally. 

Press release by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC)