Top EU Court Turns Down Suit Seeking Transparency in Fisheries
The EU’s top administrative court has ruled that European nations can keep their decisions on fishery policy secret, turning down a lawsuit from an environmental NGO that sought to increase transparency.
The Court of Justice of the EU has ruled that some key information regarding how EU fisheries rules are implemented by member countries can remain confidential. The campaign group ClientEarth had initially sued the European Commission (EC) before the General Court of the EU in 2021, seeking access to EC audit reports on the implementation of fisheries control regulations by France and Denmark. The General Court ruled that the audit reports can remain confidential, and ClientEarth appealed the decision. The Court of Justice upheld it earlier this month, bringing the lawsuit to an end.
The EU fish stocks are administered through the bloc’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which helps in setting the catch limits by the EU fisheries ministers for long-term sustainability. But some campaigners have accused the EU of complacency in enforcing rules on illegal fishing. Some member countries have also been accused of failing to stringently enforce CFP rules due to the political influence of their fishing industries.
ClientEarth argued that allowing open access to audit reports is key to uncovering breaches to the EU fishing laws. According to the NGO, only a few officials have access to this information, limiting transparency in the fishing sector.
“We are very disappointed by this judgement, which highlights that people and NGOs are being deprived of their very basic rights . . . It means that illegal fishing can remain hidden and unpunished, and the civil society is prevented from effectively participating in decision-making on the CFP,” said ClientEarth senior lawyer Anne Friel.
Most of the EU fisheries in major sea basins it controls remain over-exploited, including in the Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Seas. In December, during negotiations for this year’s fishing quotas, the EU and the UK were accused of disregarding scientific advice on catch limits. According to the campaign group Oceana, some of the 71 catch limits for shared fish populations between the UK and EU were increased for this year, putting some fisheries on the blink of collapse.
Some of the fish populations in the Northeast Atlantic - such as the cod stocks - have been depleted to perilously low levels. Recent data by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) indicate that North Sea has lost 80 percent of its cod populations since 1970s.
Top image courtesy Luxofluxo / CC BY SA 4.0
