Overview

• The General Court dismissed Spain’s and regional fishing groups’ appeal against the 2022 regulation closing 87 Northeast Atlantic areas to bottom-contact fishing.
• Judges found that the European Commission acted within its discretion by following International Council for the Exploration of the Sea guidance on identifying marine vulnerable ecosystems.
• The ruling confirms ongoing prohibitions on deep-sea trawling and bottom longlining in habitats such as cold-water corals and sponge aggregations.
• Conservation groups praised the verdict at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice as a reinforcement of the EU’s commitments under the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
• Spain has two months and ten days to seek a final review of the ruling before the Court of Justice of the European Union.