“No ports without cutters”, “The land between the seas soon without shrimp cutters?”, “Regulations flood, income ebb”: On the occasion of the Agriculture Ministers’ Conference, numerous fishermen protested with their cutters on the Schleswig-Holstein North Sea coast in the past three days busum. The reason for this was the planned ban on bottom net fishing. To protect the sea and the climate, the EU Commission wants to put an end to fishing with bottom trawls, i.e. nets that touch the sea floor, in protected areas by 2030. Many fishermen therefore fear for their livelihood.
Unanimously against blanket ban
The federal and state agricultural ministers spoke unanimously against a blanket ban. Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) was satisfied that the department heads had backed him “to fight in Brussels against a blanket ban on trawling and thus for the German shrimp fishery,” he said at the final press conference in Büsum.
It’s not just about economic livelihoods, but also about tradition, tourism and home. “Our fishing in Germany is the livelihood of many people on the coast and ensures added value in rural areas far beyond fishing,” he said.
Marine conservationists have criticized the bottom trawl fishing method because it damages the seabed and unwanted bycatch ends up in the nets. The nets are towed by a cutter and are used to catch crabs, plaice and fish on or near the bottom of the sea. According to the Thünen Institute, how badly the ground is damaged depends on the material of the ground rope at the end of the net. According to the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture, material without chains is often used, which exerts little pressure on the seabed.
Criticism from environmental groups
NABU President Jörg-Andreas Krüger criticized the decision. “We are aware that the necessary measures mean big cuts for the fisheries,” he said. At the same time, the EU has no other choice. All environmental targets for the North and Baltic Seas were missed. As with climate protection, “drastic measures are now needed to protect the biological diversity of the seas from the effects of bottom trawls and to strengthen their resilience”.
The head of the WWF Wadden Sea Office, Hans-Ulrich Rösner, also criticized the decision. He is sending out “a fundamentally wrong signal”: “Of course, shrimp fishing is part of the North Sea, but it can and must be done in a more environmentally friendly way and not everywhere.” This also includes making marine protected areas what they should be – protected zones, not economic zones.
“There is no alternative”
From the point of view of many fishermen, the ban is disproportionate. “If that goes through, it’s over,” said Dirk Sander, chairman of the Weser-Ems state fishing association. There is no alternative for the shrimp fishermen. “You can’t fish a crab in the Wadden Sea or anywhere with nets that aren’t on the bottom. You can’t fish them either.” The association fears that the number of shrimp cutters will continue to decline and that even more fish will be imported to Germany in the future.
A total of 36 points were on the agenda of the three-day conference of agriculture ministers, to which, in addition to the fishermen, several hundred farmers also came to protest. In addition to the planned ban on bottom trawl nets and the restructuring of animal husbandry, the handling of wolves and geese, grazing and a possible reorientation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the EU were also discussed. The ministers did not always reach resolutions that satisfied everyone.