The Spanish government is filing an appeal with the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) against the General Court’s ruling to uphold a prohibition on demersal fishing in a number of Atlantic areas classified as vulnerable marine ecosystems. This ruling rejected a previous appeal by the Spanish government in 2022 against the European regulation that established these areas.
Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Luis Planas states that the decision ha sbeen made after extensive consultations with State legal services to confirm sufficient grounds to support the appeal. The ministry has also maintained contacts regarding the matter with the affected autonomous communities, Galicia and Asturias, and with fishing sector organisations.
The Ministry’s position is that the General Court failed to take into account the socioeconomic impact of the measure in its ruling, which contravenes the principles of the CFP, which bases sustainability on the three pillars of environmental, economic, and social factors. As such, the Ministry opinion is that the legislator is required to carry out a specific and reasoned assessment of the interests of protecting the marine environment with the interests of those engaged in fishing activities and the socioeconomic aspects of those activities.
‘We believe it is logical that the European Commission should have broad discretion to decide on the protection of vulnerable marine areas, but it cannot exclude the economic and social aspects of the measures adopted, as they are not merely environmental,’ Luis Planas stated.
This is an argument already raised by the Spanish Government in the appeal it filed in November 2022 against European Commission Implementing Regulation 2022/1614, which prohibits fishing in 87 areas of the Atlantic shelf at depths between 400 and 800 metres, considered vulnerable marine ecosystems.
The Regulation was also appealed by the Fisheries Producers Organisation of the Port of Burela (Lugo). That appeal was rejected by the ruling of the General Court.
The ministry argues that the implementation of the regulation, in force since October 2022, has had a significant impact on the demersal longline fleet, which has seen hake catches reduced by an average of 32% per vessel, and 39% in the case of the Burela fish market, one of the largest for this species. In addition to filing the appeal, Luis Planas announced that the ministry is reaching out to the Commission to discuss and negotiate the exemption of demersal longline from the fishing ban in these vulnerable areas.
The minister explained that there are scientific reports showing that demersal longlines have a very low impact on the seabed, and that, furthermore, the species they primarily catch, hake, does not live in contact with the seabed. The European Commission did not consider these reports when it approved the regulation on vulnerable marine ecosystems.
‘It’s deeply unfair to apply the ban to demersal longliners, a fleet that has done very important work converting to a more sustainable technique and deserves support,’ Luis Planas said.
