The government of the Netherlands has accused the German state of Lower Saxony of contravening a bilateral pact banning mussel fishing in disputed waters between the two countries. Rob Hageman, spokesman for Geke Faber, the Dutch deputy minister of agriculture, nature conservation and fishery, called the decision by the German government “scandalous.”
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Despite the bilateral agreement, which dates back to 1960, Lower Saxony issued licences to three fisheries on 15 May giving them the right to fish 1000 tons of an estimated 1500 tons of mussels in the Wadden Sea.
Speaking on behalf of the Lower Saxony state government, Deputy Minister Dietmar Schultz said his ministry had been faced with little choice but to issue the fishing licences after a fisherman from Norden-Deich took the government to court early May.
The 1960 treaty and a later environmental protocol signed in 1996 include no punishment for violations, so there is very little either signatory can do if its counterpart feels the treaty has outlived its usefulness. The Dutch government is suspicious that the granting of the licences will open the floodgates to applications from other fisheries.
