07 Apr 2026
Photo Richard Bell Almost 40% of England’s seas are designated as marine protected areas. Their stated purpose, according to the government, is to protect and recover rare, threatened and important marine ecosystems from damage caused by human activities. Yet in the four years to 2024, trawlers using vast nets, including those that scour the […]
20 May 2025
Late Monday night, negotiations between the UK and the EU – covering trade, defence and fishing, came to a dramatic close, as the UK agreed to allow EU vessels continued access to UK waters until 2038. Reaction to the deal on fishing revealed highly differing views. The UK Government stressed that the agreement maintains […]
08 May 2025
Image description: Ecologists monitoring life in the River Itchen in Hampshire, wearing a white hat, blue shirt and waders. Image by Martin Godwin/The Guardian Chalk streams are some of the rarest habitats in the world – there are only 200, and England boasts 85% of them. However, despite the rarity and importance of these […]
04 May 2025
The sandeel Arbitration Tribunal has published its final ruling, which relates to decisions taken in March 2024 by the UK and Scottish Governments to close North Sea Waters to sandeel fishing. While the UK has succeeded in the majority of its arguments, the ruling has left several parties claiming victory. The dispute over sandeel fishing […]
02 May 2025
The sandeel Arbitration Tribunal has published its final ruling, which relates to decisions taken in March 2024 by the UK and Scottish Governments to close North Sea Waters to sandeel fishing. The decisions were taken to protect vulnerable seabird populations and support the wider marine environment. In April 2024, the EU launched dispute proceedings to […]
15 Apr 2025
Image description: Fishing boats docked in a harbour in Scarborough A new study has issued a stark warning that the UK is at serious risk of losing the wide-reaching benefits of its sustainable fisheries unless urgent action is taken. The paper, Recognising and Protecting the National Benefit of Sustainable Fisheries in the UK, highlights […]
03 Apr 2025
It has been more than four years since the UK set up its own chemicals regulatory regime post-Brexit, however senior campaigner at Chem Trust Chloe Alexander notes that the UK has failed to restrict a single substance since it departed from the European Union (EU). In fact, despite more than four years of regulatory analysis […]
25 Feb 2025
The dispute over sandeel fishing in the North Sea marks the first time the UK and EU have been to court since Brexit in 2020. The outcome of the case could be hugely significant for seabird populations along the east coast and for UK-EU trade relations. A tribunal under the post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) […]
