Braving the Tides: The EU’s Quest to Protect its Oceans

This article is co-authored by Cathleen Ong and Luo Xuhong. Cover image by Stacey Ngiam.

*This article is published in collaboration with Discuss Diglett, a blog run by youths keen on sharing their love for law, politics and economics. For more, check out Discuss Diglett's website and Instagram @DiscussDiglett today!

Bottom trawling. An industrial method of fishing involving the pulling of a net through water behind one or more boats. Whilst theoretically condemned with a multitude of legislation to render it illegal, realistic action has trailed behind sloppily. According to a research paper done by multiple marine NGOs Oceana, Seas At Risk and ClientEarth, no single country in the European Union (EU) has genuine plans to alleviate these issues. As a result, 60% of the EU’s Marine Protected Areas (MPA) remain trawled without more stringent regulations. Why is this an issue if economic gains ensue? 

Destructive fishing practices directly result in the tearing up of fragile habitats and wiping out of biodiversity as a result of acts like bottom trawling. Beyond detrimental impacts on the environmental scale, bottom trawling is also founded on an unsustainable economic model. A socioeconomic analysis by the New Economics Foundation concluded that a net gain of 8.4B pounds could accumulate in the next two decades by eliminating bottom trawling. What prevents EU member states from taking definitive steps to eradicate this practice in spite of its consequences?

The exact causes can be represented through two faces – lacklustre legal enforcement, but also the EU’s socio-cultural landscape. In May 2025, a verdict made by the General Court of the EU confirmed that MPAs must now receive protection from destructive fishing practices at all costs. Seen as a landslide verdict, the case’s outcome backs efforts to enforce stricter guidelines by implementing new measures against destructive fishing in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

However, the existence of this case reveals a deep-rooted issue with persistent trawling  – a lack of political will to keep checks and balances. The situation is exacerbated by high industrial fishing subsidies of $1.5B USD annually,  which has created a reliance on the practice for centuries. The economic inertia is furthered by fishermens’ claims that trawling does not damage the areas they are in. Therefore, enacting stricter MPAs in countries also means sacrificing tens of thousands of livelihoods of the EU’s coastal communities. 

In light of this dilemma, it is no wonder that conversation laws which are already lax in execution become easily bypassed. The EU’s current approach enables continued exploitation of our precious ocean resources. However, there has been a recent rise in urgent action against the issue – the landmark decision upheld by the EU against German fishing company, VDK, in May 2025, is one instance. Beyond Germany, a multitude of cases in France, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden are also ongoing.

Now that the General Court of the EU has delivered a decisive verdict on the case, the weight of the ruling has emboldened the NGOs’ resolve. Multiple of these organisations have since filed a legal complaint on unchallenged bottom trawling practices. So what exactly renders the EU’s current approach ineffective, and what more can be done?

In 2022, 86% of the 11.4% of EU waters covered by MPAs showed light, minimal, or no protection from the most harmful human activities, such as dredging, mining, or the most damaging fishing gears.

The practice of bottom trawling is highly devastating for marine ecosystems. Seen here is a scene from charity Blue Marine Foundation's film "The Bottom Line", where a shocked Theo James reacts to the massive amount of bycatch on his table. Image credit: Duncan Nicholls/Blue Marine Foundation

Examining EU's Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

The most prominent EU policy on MPAs is primarily articulated through the 1992 Habitats Directive that established the Natura 2000 network of protected sites. Member states are granted the flexibility to enact complementary national legislation addressing the conservation of these sites. Regionally, groups of states have banded together to establish cooperation mechanisms for protected areas that transcend national borders, examples include OSPAR (North-East Atlantic) and HELCOM (Baltic Sea).

As of 2022, MPA coverage has more than doubled to 12.3% from 5.9% a decade prior while the EU Biodiversity Strategy has gone further with an ambitious target for 30% of EU waters to be designated as MPAs by 2030. For instance, France counts itself among the handful of nations that have attained a laudable achievement of having more than 30% of national waters designated as MPAs. Unfortunately, such rosy statistics are far detached from reality.  

In theory, the highly destructive practice of bottom trawling should be banned (or at least significantly restricted) within the confines of MPAs. After all, the indiscriminate nature of nets used in bottom trawling that often ensnares large quantities of unwanted by-catch and leaves behind major damage to the seabed essentially defeats the purpose of MPA protection in the first place. However, the discussion ensuing below underscores how reality is starkly different from the EU’s vision. 

On a domestic level, the example of France is a reminder of how laws almost act as “paper tigers” – without much regulatory action. Marine NGO BLOOM condemned the French legal framework surrounding MPAs in a scathing report in 2022, where of the more than 18 different categories of protection, only 2 partially met the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) definition of a MPA. 

Other research further accentuates the French’s inefficacies in curbing deep-sea trawling. More specifically, when considering the following condition that MPAs must meet (as clarified by IUCN in 2016), “large-scale intensive (i.e. industrial) fishing is not compatible with any of the management categories and should not take place in or near Marine Protected Areas”, no category in France meets this requirement. 

Worse still, the same report notes that well-connected French fishing lobbies have convinced the government to adopt the concept of “case-by-case” ocean protection, whereby trawling may be permitted in MPAs with ecosystems that are deemed more resilient and can “withstand trawl passages at moderate frequencies”. The hypocrisy of French policy is best highlighted in the Nature article: the host nation for the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) is actively opposing the EU-wide ban on bottom trawling. 

Meanwhile, the EU itself has a lackluster track record when it comes to enforcing penalties for proven violations of its own environmental regulations. Back in July 2024, the European Commission quietly discontinued infringement proceedings against 5 EU states for allegedly failing to enforce rules against overfishing. These preliminary investigations into the nations’ landing obligations i.e. the ban on discarding unwanted fish overboard were first opened in 2021 with formal notices issued to the states. 

Image credit: Investigate Europe

Diplomats have explained, as per a FT report, that the “widespread non-compliance” is common across fishing industries. Unfortunately, flagrant violations extend beyond the high seas. Stringent environmental policies rarely deter offenders in practice given the lack of political will to follow up on investigations. Even with proven evidence of wrongdoing, enforcement proceedings often drag on for years - Investigate Europe found that the EC has failed to impose financial penalties on errant member states across more than 40 individual cases of environmental violations, with some breaches remaining unresolved for decades. 

UNOC3: Beyond a talk shop?

Nonetheless, the urgency of marine protection returned to the spotlight at the recently concluded 3rd iteration of the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) where thousands of participants agreed on a political declaration that emphasised an urgent need to protect the world’s oceans. 

Capitalising on the groundswell of momentum, a dozen countries pledged to create new Marine Protected Areas or expand upon existing MPAs. The Pacific semi-autonomous French territory of French Polynesia announced the creation of a MPA that encompassed the entirety of its exclusive economic zone that amounted to almost 5 million square kilometres. Around 20% of the MPA will be designated as a highly/fully protected area where only limited traditional fishing activities, tourism and scientific research are permitted. 

Contrary to the stances of multiple other EU nations, Greece has taken the lead in marine conservation by announcing the creation of 2 new marine parks in the Ionian and South Aegean Seas (in which bottom-trawling will be prohibited) that would enable it to meet the 30-by-30 target ahead of time. 

Notably, the most important takeaway from UNOC3 is the progress of the BBNJ treaty (full name: Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction). 

The first of its kind addressing the protection of marine areas in the high seas (defined as regions of water beyond the national jurisdiction of any nation), the BBNJ treaty outlines a framework for multilateral cooperation in monitoring and conserving marine wildlife in MPAs that are situated beyond national waters. Ratified by 19 nations on the sidelines of UNOC3, the legally-binding treaty is on track for implementation next year once the target of 60 states has been reached. High seas form more than 60% of the world's oceans and the BBNJ framework helps to make the 30-by-30 target more than just a pipe dream. 

As established earlier, funding shortfalls have emerged as one of the main obstacles to effective monitoring and management of MPAs. While specifics remain vague, the European Commission has announced an investment of 1 billion EUR in support of ocean conservation at UNOC3. A poorly-funded MPA is as good as existing solely on paper - given that funding shortfalls for effective MPA management in the Mediterranean Sea alone amounted to an estimated 700m EUR annually, fresh funds that address resource and staffing constraints will go a long way to help MPAs function more effectively.

Whilst these issues begin in the EU, they apply to ASEAN’s situation as well. With Asia accounting for half of all bottom-trawled fish in the world, the need for enforcement remains everlasting. Even though the individual countries, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia have implemented their own policies, growth could be more sustainable if the region were to collaborate on a collective approach. Under the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC), it may be prudent for ASEAN to enshrine their commitment to banning bottom trawling in an agreement like the BBNJ treaty.

“The real test is not what we said here in Nice – but what we do next.” - Mr. Li Junhua (USG for Economic and Social Affairs, Sec-Gen of UNOC3)

As Mr Li aptly put it, the formalities which regional organisations sign, like agreements and speeches, remain mostly futile without genuine action to mitigate their purported issue. As the world moves towards 2030, the year whereby the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are to be achieved, we must not forget to protect our ocean life from one of the most dire dangers it has experienced. Whilst the EU and its current enforcement statistics may look bleak, one will have to wait and see whether the region can turn the tide in the next 6 years, and head towards genuine action. 

References

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