Politico ‘Tough new British rules against damaging fishing practices are putting pressure on the EU

British Brexit backers have long argued quitting the EU could make the U.K. greener — now there’s some evidence to back that up.

It comes from a British move to strengthen environmental rules at sea, something that could force the EU to follow suit. The U.K. recently decided to ban bottom trawling — a fishing technique where enormous nets are dragged along the sea bottom — in the marine protected area of the Dogger Bank in the North Sea.

Now that we have left the [EU] Common Fisheries Policy, we are able to deliver on our commitment to achieve a healthy, thriving and sustainable marine environment,” Environment Secretary George Eustice said of the February 1 decision.

The U.K. was able to take the decision because it’s no longer part of the EU. That is galvanizing environmental groups to push EU countries to do the same.

“When the U.K. left the Common Fisheries Policy … that triggered an obligation under the Habitats Directive to conduct what’s called an appropriate environmental impact assessment,” said Thomas Appleby, lawyer and associate professor at the University of the West of England. The scientific recommendation led the U.K. to decide to completely ban bottom trawling in the Dogger Bank.

“That, of course, puts pressure on the European Union members,” Appleby said, because the obligation to conduct an environmental impact assessment under the U.K.’s post-Brexit habitats rules are copy-pasted from the EU’s nature protection laws. This means the EU has the same obligation as the U.K. to assess the ecological state of its part of the Dogger Bank and eventually restrict bottom trawling too, he argued.

“It’s clear that that the U.K. has been forced to look into [the protection of the Dogger Bank] because of Brexit. But it does set a very strong precedent for the EU as well,” Appleby said.

EU countries have so far resisted stricter rules against bottom trawling on the Dogger Bank, despite Brussels pushing for the adoption of fisheries management measures in this protected area as required by the EU Habitats Directive.

But a letter from the European Commission’s marine department addressed to NGOs and obtained by POLITICO, which was sent just after the British announcement, has NGOs hoping that Brussels could nudge EU countries to increase protection of their part of the Dogger Bank.

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