(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
AFP
The Hague: Urgent action is needed to protect British Stocks of a tiny North Sea fish coming under increasing pressure from harvesting by European Union trawlers, the world's oldest arbitration body heard on Wednesday.
London and Brussels are crossing swords at the Permanent Court of Justice over the rights to fish sandeel -- the silvery eel-like species that is an important food source for other marine animals including seals, dolphins and birds.
Britain's objective is to "pursue a good environmental status for the North Sea ecosystem," said Ben Juratowitch, one of London's representatives.
"As a result, urgent action is required to protect stocks and the wider ecosystem from... increasing pressures," he told an arbitral panel of three legal experts at a hearing in The Hague.
Brussels has dragged London before the PCA following a decision last year to ban all commercial sandeel fishing in British waters over environmental concerns.
London in March ordered all fishing to stop, saying in court documents that "sandeels are integral to the marine ecosystem of the North Sea".
Brussels accuses London of failing to stick to the landmark 2021 Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which gave the EU access to British waters for several years during a transition period after London's exit from the bloc.
Under the deal, the EU's fishing fleet retained access to British waters for a five-and-half-year transition period, ending in mid-2026. After that, access to respective waters will be decided in annual negotiations.
The bitter arbitration case over sandeels is seen as a bellwether for other potential litigation between London and Brussels in a perennial hot-bed industry, experts said.
This week's clash at the scenic Peace Palace also marks the first courtroom trade battle between the 27-member trading bloc and Britain since it left the EU in 2020.
On Tuesday, Brussels' representatives said London's decision to ban sandeel fishing was "inconsistent" with its obligations under the TCA, claiming the move "nullifies the EU's right of full access" to British waters.
But Juratowitch said the case was "about catching fish in waters that are not yours".
"The starting point is not free access to markets subject to necessary restrictions."
"The starting point is that there is no right to go into another state's waters and take its living natural resources unless granted, and then only on the terms granted," he said.
A ruling in the case is expected in about two months.
Set up in 1899, the PCA is the world's oldest arbitral tribunal and resolves disputes between countries and private parties through referring to contracts, special agreements and various treaties, such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
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