Report to inform appropriate assessment of fishing operations on the Dogger Bank SACs

The report argues that the UK, the Netherlands, and Germany are in breach of the EU Habitats Directive by failing to implement effective management measures for the Dogger Bank SACs. It concludes that most bottom-contacting fishing gears cause significant harm to the H1110 sandbank habitat and should be halted to restore the site's integrity.

• The Dogger Bank SACs, designated by the UK, the Netherlands, and Germany to protect subtidal sandbanks (habitat H1110), are currently in an 'unfavourable' conservation status due primarily to the impact of bottom-trawling.
• Despite legal obligations starting as early as 2007 (Germany), 2009 (the Netherlands), and 2012 (UK), no effective management measures have been implemented to restrict damaging fishing gears, leading the authors to describe the area as a “paper park.”
• A 2019 Joint Recommendation by the UK, Netherlands, and Germany proposed protecting only 4.7% of the Dogger Bank SACs from mobile bottom-towed gear for a period of 3 years, while leaving 66.2% open to industrial-scale bottom-towed fishing.
• The report's scientific assessment concludes that demersal trawling, demersal seining, anchored netlines, and electronic pulse fishing all have adverse effects on the integrity of the site.
• Bottom-towed fishing has caused a shift in the biological community, replacing long-lived or fragile organisms with robust, short-lived invertebrates such as polychaetes (Nephtys cirrosa).
• The report identifies that bottom trawling significantly reduces benthic invertebrate abundance (by 26%) and species richness (by 19%), with recovery for sessile and low-mobility biota predicted to take more than 3 years.
• Bottom trawling is found to impair critical ecological processes, including a potential 50% reduction in net denitrification and a 52% reduction in organic carbon storage in sediments.
• The authors recommend a total closure of the Dogger Bank SACs to all demersal fishing to allow the ecosystem to recover, suggesting that pelagic fishing, traps, and pots could only be permitted under strict monitoring and restrictions.

APA

Appleby, T., Condon, J., Rammelt, T., Reuchlin-Hugenholtz, E., & Solandt, J.-L. (2020). Report to inform appropriate assessment of fishing operations on the Dogger Bank SACs. ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/stzff0hu/2020-09-30-report-to-inform-appropriate-assessment-of-fishing-operations-on-the-dogger-bank-sacs-coll-en.pdf

Chicago

Appleby, Thomas, John Condon, Thomas Rammelt, Emilie Reuchlin-Hugenholtz, and Jean-Luc Solandt. Report to inform appropriate assessment of fishing operations on the Dogger Bank SACs. ClientEarth, 2020. https://www.clientearth.org/media/stzff0hu/2020-09-30-report-to-inform-appropriate-assessment-of-fishing-operations-on-the-dogger-bank-sacs-coll-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Appleby |first1=Thomas |last2=Condon |first2=John |last3=Rammelt |first3=Thomas |last4=Reuchlin-Hugenholtz |first4=Emilie |last5=Solandt |first5=Jean-Luc |title=Report to inform appropriate assessment of fishing operations on the Dogger Bank SACs |publisher=ClientEarth |date=30 September 2020 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/stzff0hu/2020-09-30-report-to-inform-appropriate-assessment-of-fishing-operations-on-the-dogger-bank-sacs-coll-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{appleby2020report, author = {Appleby, Thomas and Condon, John and Rammelt, Thomas and Reuchlin-Hugenholtz, Emilie and Solandt, Jean-Luc}, title = {{Report to inform appropriate assessment of fishing operations on the Dogger Bank SACs}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2020}, month = sep, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/stzff0hu/2020-09-30-report-to-inform-appropriate-assessment-of-fishing-operations-on-the-dogger-bank-sacs-coll-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }