Nature Balance 2008: Protecting the North Sea requires spatial policy
The biodiversity of oceans and seas is declining world-wide. Important causes of this decline are overfishing, pollution and climate change. One-fourth of all fish stocks in the world are overfished or have already been exhausted. The quality of the North Sea has not yet improved. The quality of the habitats is about half as good as those still in a natural situation.
Bottom trawling (photo: Graafeiland).
In the North Sea, the pressure of the fishery on the quality of habitats is high. This has resulted in a decline of fish stocks. Moreover, the age structure of fish populations has become very lopsided. The population is dominated by young fish because the older members of the species have been caught. Although the fishery policy has contributed to reducing overfishing, it has been unable to prevent most fish species from becoming threatened. Experiments with sustainable fishing technologies are taking place. However, the transition to an ecologically sustainable fishery does yet not appear to be imminent. In this context, sustainable aquaculture, product certification and establishing designated marine ecological zones are important.
(source: Rijkswaterstaat, dienst Noordzee (left); IMARES, bewerking PBL (centre); Lindenboom et al., 2005; LNV, 2008a, 2008b, VenW e.a., 2005 (right))
Policy options for improving the quality of the North Sea
The quality of the North Sea can be improved by making the fishery more sustainable and reducing the nitrogen load. It would also be good for the North Sea to have a more regulatory spatial policy. For example, the government could create a network of protected areas in the North Sea where nature would be given more space. Other functions such as shipping, sand extraction and fisheries also require space.
In 2008 the government wants to report a number of new protected areas on the North Sea to the European Commission. However, several areas in the North Sea with unusual benthic fauna will remain unprotected for the time being because such fauna is not part of the selection criteria for the Habitats Directive.
The Dutch government is striving for the sustainable conservation and use of marine resources. It aims to achieve this by making agreements with the fishery sector and by contributing to the establishment of a network of protected marine areas. However, the policy is not yet sufficiently developed to evaluate its effects.
