The shrimp fishermen from Den Oever are so angry with the Wadden Association that they are going to take action tomorrow. The Wadden Club has filed a lawsuit to no longer tolerate shrimp fishing on the Wadden Sea. According to the fishermen, this could mean the end of their profession.
Shrimp fishing on the Wadden Sea and the North Sea coast is currently tolerated. It works like this: the last permit for shrimp fishing in these areas expired at the end of 2022. Since then, no new permit has been issued. Despite the lack of this permit, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) does allow fishing.
Stricter agreements
The Wadden Association wants stricter agreements in a new permit about where shrimp fishing is allowed, when this is allowed and how many shrimp can be fished. “Nature must be given more time to recover,” says Wadden Association director Wouter van der Heij.
“We are not concerned with tolerating shrimp fishing itself. We do not want to ban the entire fishery and understand that fishermen need time to comply with the nitrogen measures. We are concerned with the intensity and extent of the fishing. It is unwise to continue like this.”
The Wadden Association no longer participates in discussions about the future of shrimp fishing. Moreover, the association wants to abolish the current tolerance structure. Together with other nature organizations, the Wadden Association took the matter to court some time ago. In this way they hope to halt the current form of shrimp fishing.
Distrust
Distrust in the Wadden Association is increasing among shrimp fishermen. “We do not want to ban shrimp fishing, says the Wadden Association, but why this lawsuit?”, asks former fisherman and historian Cees Meeldijk. “The nature clubs adhere to the ideology of wild nature and in that view humans are not welcome. Fishing therefore does not fit into their vision. They say they are not against fishermen, but they are.”
Meeldijk is afraid that, after Texel and Den Helder, fishing will also come to an end for Den Oever. “Tourists want to eat fish and watch cutters in the village. But without fishermen you get a ghost port. Soon there will be no fishing to be seen here either.”
There are currently about 200 shrimp trawlers in the Netherlands. 70 of them fish in the Wadden Sea, 130 along the North Sea coast. In the Wadden Sea, fishing is mainly done on the sandy bottom, along tidal inlets and in larger channels.
Last year was for the shrimp fishermen a bad year. 5 million kilos were caught, compared to 20 million kilos in 2021. That’s because there were a lot of whiting swimming in the water, which like to eat shrimp, but which left little for the fishermen.
Insecure
Shrimp fishermen indicate that they do not want to innovate if they are not certain whether they can continue fishing. Fisherman Corrie Nagel told opposite Omrop Friesland that he only wants to install a low-nitrogen engine in his cutter – a government requirement – once there is clarity about a permit. “If the minister says: you have a permit here on the condition that you arrange a clean engine with a catalytic converter before January 1, 2025, then that is clear. But the outgoing cabinet is taking its hands off the matter. I cannot run my business on that. .”
In the meantime, the ministry continues to discuss with the fishing sector, but it is not known when there will be more clarity about a new nature permit.