Vulnerable birds will be protected because of a Brexit fishing ban on EU vessels, Britain was set to tell Brussels yesterday (WED) in a first-of-its-kind court battle.
British lawyers argued a decision to close off sand eel fisheries was taken to prevent a decline in the seabirds, such as kittiwakes.
EU lawyers on Tuesday told an arbitration tribunal that the decision breached the post-Brexit fishing agreement struck by both sides.
It is the first time the two sides have gone to arbitration under the 2021 trade agreement agreed by Boris Johnson.
Anthony Dawes of the European Commission’s legal service said: “We are here today because the UK’s prohibition of all sand eel fishing in its waters of the North Sea nullifies rights conferred on the European Union.”
The court was set to hear Britain’s defence against the accusations yesterday (WED), which could eventually lead to punitive trade tariffs on British exports to Europe if Brussels wins.
British lawyers planned to argue that “industrial fishing” by EU vessels in UK waters risks exhausting fish stocks crucial for sustaining the threatened population of seabirds in the North Sea.
They also rejected the EU’s suggestion that the ban is discriminatory against Danish fishing boats, which hoover up most of the sand eels because British fishermen were barred from the area in 2021.
Atlantic puffin, kittiwake and Arctic tern all feature on the “Red List” of birds at greatest risk in the UK.