Eleven environmental organisations have banded together to push for legal action against EU governments over destructive fishing in Europe’s marine protected areas.
On paper these zones are meant to shield sea life from exactly this practice, but in practice rules are often ignored.
The alliance, whose members include ClientEarth, Oceana, Seas At Risk, Blue Marine Foundation and Germany’s BUND, now plans to push the EU Commission to open infringement proceedings against non-compliant governments.
“By connecting national legal action into a single, coordinated European strategy, the coalition is building a wave of accountability that no government can ignore,” the group said in a statement on Monday (6 July), also saying that the rules exist to protect Europe’s sea “in practice, not just on paper.”
The problem, they say, is lax enforcement, not a lack of rules. “The EU has some of the strictest nature laws in the world,” the coalition members stated.
