Sweden sets an example for EU countries with first steps to ban bottom trawling in marine protected areas
Press Release Date: January 22, 2025
Location: Belgium
Contact:
Emily Fairless, Communications Officer | email: efairless@oceana.org | tel.: +32 478 038 490
NGOs – the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC), Seas At Risk, Oceana and ClientEarth – welcome last night’s Swedish government proposal 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 (1). 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.
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NOTES TO EDITORS
(1) 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.
