Commissioner Kadis – end Puffin starvation now!
BirdLife, the RSPB, 31 NGOs and the wind sector sent letters to the Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans and asked him to be the champion for the ocean he promised to be. Can he turn the tide for starving Puffins?
The sandeel fishing ban in the English and Scottish waters of the North Sea has been marked by dramatic ups and downs. We went from happiness to surprise and disappointment in less than 12 months. While the European Commission opened an arbitration tribunal, Atlantic Puffins and other seabirds are starving as their primary food source, sandeels, continues to decline.
Recognising the urgency, we contacted the new Commissioner directly to ask him to support the sandeel fishing ban, carrying the collective voices of 32 NGOs across the EU and UK. We also reached out alongside WindEurope, a coalition of 600 members working in the wind industry in Europe, to emphasize the need for resilient seas. As Commissioner Kadis promised to champion ocean protection and restoration, this could be his very first act to prove himself.
The Commission’s current opposition to the ban contradicts its own environmental obligations under international and EU frameworks, including the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Nature Restoration Law, and the Birds and Habitats Directives. But it also neglects that the EU climate and energy targets can only be achieved with healthy seas, to mitigate impacts from offshore renewables development.
Scientific evidence has shown the importance of sandeels as a key prey species for seabirds, fish, and marine mammals. Without sandeels, ecosystems will degrade, and emblematic species like Atlantic Puffins may vanish.
Commissioner Costas Kadis, we urge you to rise to the occasion and be the ocean’s champion.
Cover image by Jez-Campbell
Sandeel ban history in short:
This spring 2024, and after 25 years of campaigning by our Partner RSPB, the UK and Scottish governments finally decided to end sandeel fishing in their waters.
Seabirds, including the iconic Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) and many sea mammals feed on these tiny forage fish. The extensive large-scale sandeel fishing increases pressure on already declining seabird populations. But autumn 2024 came and the European Commission challenged the ban and opened an arbitration tribunal to determine whether the ban is in line with the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. NGOs across the UK and EU are outraged as the ban is a crucial measure to support marine biological diversity, and globally important seabirds.
You might also be interested in:
 | Stichting BirdLife Europe gratefully acknowledges financial support from the European Commission. All content and opinions expressed on these pages are solely those of Stichting BirdLife Europe. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. |
