London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

Denmark accuses UK of breaking Brexit fishing deal over trawling ban

Denmark accuses UK of breaking Brexit fishing deal over trawling ban

Exclusive: Danish minister says proposal to ban bottom trawling in Dogger Bank ‘a very big problem’

Denmark has accused the UK of breaching the post-Brexit fisheries deal over plans to ban destructive bottom trawling in a North Sea conservation zone.

The UK announced in February that it wanted to ban bottom trawling at the Dogger Bank conservation zone in the North Sea, a move hailed by environmentalists hopeful of seeing a resurgence of halibut, sharks and skate in the once marine life rich sandbank.

In an interview with the Guardian, Denmark’s fisheries minister, Rasmus Prehn, said such plans were not in line with the post-Brexit deal.

“The Brexit agreement ensures full access [for EU vessels] to fish in UK waters until 2026. And therefore, of course, it is a very big problem for us if the British government is going to change that. We find that unacceptable and it’s a breach of our agreement,” he said.

The charge opens a new front for the UK government, which is already embroiled in a rancorous dispute with France over fishing rights, against a wider backdrop of post-Brexit tensions with the EU.

Dogger Bank, a large shallow sandbank about 90 miles north-east of the Humber estuary, has been fished by Danish boats for centuries and is among the country’s most important fishing grounds, according to the Danish government.

Under the Brexit trade and cooperation agreement struck between the EU and the UK last Christmas Eve, EU fishers can continue to access UK waters as before until 30 June 2026, a transition to delay the blow of reduced fishing rights in future.

The deal also commits both sides to “promoting the long-term sustainability” of the 70 common fish in the shared waters.

Prehn said Danish fishers “are already very in a very difficult situation due to Brexit so this would be even more difficult for them and we can’t really accept that”.

While he said it was premature to discuss potential retaliation, he revealed his disappointment over how relations between the UK and Denmark had deteriorated since Brexit.

“It’s really difficult to make an agreement and just one year after we have these problems with one part; that is not really acceptable, that is not how we usually make agreements. With the UK we used to have a very good relationship,” Prehn said.

He was speaking from Brussels, as the UK and EU embark on the final sprint of negotiations to set catch limits for fishing in 2022, ahead of a 10 December deadline.

Denmark and the UK entered the then European Economic Community together in 1973, but arrived too late to influence the first version of the common fisheries policy, leaving a lingering sense of resentment for British officials.


Between 2013 and 2020, Danish fishers landed catches worth 27m DKK (€3.6m, £3.05m) a year from bottom trawling in Dogger Bank, mostly sand eel, which is used on fish farms but is also an important source of food for puffins, kittiwakes and seals.

Germany and the Netherlands also have fishing interests in Dogger Bank, which environmentalists say has been overworked by trawls and dredges, causing a drastic decline in fish.

Bottom trawling involves dragging weighted nets across the sea floor.

Environmentalists have welcomed the government’s decision to protect Dogger Bank, but said the UK needed to show the same efforts when it came to protecting fish targeted by British fishers.

“The UK is proposing a brave and good deal on the Dogger Bank,” said Irene Kingma, a Dutch marine biologist. “It’s also very easy … when it’s not your fisheries that you’re impacting.”

“The UK is being very progressive on all environmental issues as long as it’s not interfering with their own fishing interest,” she added. “They are good at [protecting] Dogger Bank, because its flatfish are fished by the Dutch, and they are good at the industrial fisheries [sandeel] because that’s fished by the Danish. But they are very much not willing to move on cod when it’s the Scottish fishing boats.”

The UK government rejects the claim it is in breach of the TCA, arguing it allows both sides to decide on regulatory measures. A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “The UK is a global leader in the fight to protect our seas. As an independent coastal state the UK can decide on the regulatory measures which apply to fishing in our waters, which includes taking measures to follow scientific advice and protect our marine environment.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Street justice isn’t pretty but how else do you deal with this kind of insanity? Sometimes someone needs to standup and say something
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign U.S.-brokered accord at White House outlining transit link via southern Armenia
Barcelona Resolves Captaincy Issue with Marc-André ter Stegen
US Justice Department Seeks Release of Epstein and Maxwell Grand Jury Exhibits Amid Legal and Victim Challenges
Trump Urges Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Resign Over Alleged Chinese Business Ties
Scotland’s First Minister Meets Trump Amid Visit Highlighting Whisky Tariffs, Gaza Crisis and Heritage Links
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
×