The fishing sector files a lawsuit before the Supreme Court to annul the Government’s plans for offshore wind

2023-08-03 17:03:32

The Platform in Defense of Fisheries and Marine Ecosystems has filed a lawsuit before the Supreme Court to claim the annulment of the decree that establishes the Maritime Space Management Plans (POEM) with which the Government regulates offshore wind, since considers that they are “illegal” because of their impact on the fishing sector.

The Government seeks to “favor the promotion of offshore wind” without reports assessing the damage to fishing, “apart from one of the original activities at sea,” criticizes the spokesman for this platform, Torcuato Teixeira.

In this act in the La Coruña market of a platform that brings together some 30 groups from different communities, Teixeira was accompanied by the president of the National Federation of Brotherhoods, Basilio Otero; the president of the Galician brotherhoods, José Antonio Pérez Sieira; the secretary of the Federation of Brotherhoods of Asturias, María José Rico; and the president of the brotherhoods of the Canary Islands, David Pavón.

Thus, the platform reports that the Supreme Court has already admitted this demand, with the requirement that the State respond, since the Ministry for Ecological Transition has “withdrawn” from the protection of marine ecosystems “bypassing the precautionary principle”. , as well as “international and national regulations”.

In this regard, these representatives of the fishermen assure that they are not against renewable energies, since they are committed to reducing CO2 emissions, but “not sacrificing” fishing and marine ecosystems. And it is that they warn of the coastal impact like the Galician one with the offshore wind projects, mainly between Ferrolterra and Cabo Ortegal.

Report of the University of La Coruña

The lawsuit is based on a report by experts from the Coastal Observatory of the University of La Coruña (UDC), in which a total of “11 manifest illegalities and irregularities” are detected on issues such as the law for the protection of the marine environment and the framework directive for Marine Space Planning. They warn that Royal Decree 150/2023 of February 28 in which the POEMs are approved “has not taken into account” the environmental, social and sustainability impacts to comply with current legislation.

They point out that the lawsuit before the Supreme Court is based on the violation of the principles of precaution, legality and transparency. It also reveals a “constitutional violation” in relation to article 130.1 of the Magna Carta that obliges the public powers to pay special attention to the development of fishing together with other sensitive sectors, since the Ministry “has opted” for the offshore wind “to the detriment of fishing that will be expelled from their fishing grounds”.