(AGENPARL) – Wed 11 June 2025 PRESS RELEASE No 67/25
Luxembourg, 11 June 2025
Judgments of the General Court in Cases T-681/22 | Spain v Commission and T-781/22 | Madre Querida
and Others v Commission
The actions brought against the Commission’s determination of areas to
be protected in certain deep-sea fishing grounds where vulnerable marine
ecosystems are known to occur or are likely to occur are dismissed
Those actions had been brought by Spain and by a number of entities active in the field of fishing
The European Union ensures the conservation and sustainable exploitation of marine biological resources. 1 In that
context, measures were taken concerning the sustainable fishing of species in deep-sea habitats. 2 In
implementation of those measures, the European Commission adopted a regulation establishing a list of deep-sea
fishing areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems are known to occur or are likely to occur 3 in the Union waters of
the north-east Atlantic. 4 Fishing with bottom gears 5 is prohibited in those areas.
Spain (Case T-681/22) and a number of entities comprising fishers from Galicia and Asturias (Case T-781/22)
challenged the Commission’s designation of those areas before the General Court of the European Union.
In its judgments, the General Court dismisses the actions.
The General Court emphasises first of all that classification as an area where vulnerable marine ecosystems are
known to occur or are likely to occur is based on the proven or probable presence of protected species and on
the characteristics of the ecosystem itself. The area is in that way protected against the significant adverse
impacts of bottom gears in general. The Commission was therefore not obliged to assess the fragility of the
ecosystems in the light of each type of gear used (in particular of passive bottom gears, such as demersal longlines,
which are used by the applicant fishers) or to evaluate the consequences of the conservation measures on fishing
activities and on economic and social life.
Next, the General Court holds that it has not been established that the Commission clearly exceeded its
discretion when, in determining the areas, it used a particular methodology proposed in the relevant advice of the
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). Nor has it been proven that the methodology
followed was not appropriate, that it did not contribute to the protection objective being pursued or that a different
methodology would have be more effective in defining those areas.
Last, the General Court rejects the claims concerning the unlawfulness of the legislative act that provides for
adoption of the contested regulation. That act did not unlawfully attribute powers to the Commission to
supplement essential elements of the protection system by means of an implementing act. Nor did it infringe either
the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy or the principle of proportionality by indiscriminately prohibiting fishing
with bottom gears in all the designated areas. First, the prohibition does not apply to fishing with bottom gears at a
depth of 400 metres or above. Second, Spain and the applicant fishers have not shown that passive gears are free of
adverse impacts, and it therefore cannot be ruled out that those gears may pose a risk to vulnerable marine
ecosystems.
Communications Directorate
Press and Information Unit
curia.europa.eu
NOTE: An action for annulment seeks the annulment of acts of the institutions of the European Union that are
contrary to EU law. The Member States, the European institutions and individuals may, under certain conditions,
bring an action for annulment before the Court of Justice or the General Court, as the case may be. If the action is
well founded, the act is annulled. The institution concerned must fill any legal vacuum created by the annulment of
the act.
NOTE: An appeal, limited to points of law only, may be brought before the Court of Justice against the decision of
the General Court within two months and ten days of notification of the decision.
Unofficial document for media use, not binding on the General Court.
The full text and, as the case may be, an abstract of the judgments (T-681/22 and T-781/22) is published on the
CURIA website on the day of delivery.
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Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on the Common Fisheries Policy, amending
Council Regulations (EC) No 1954/2003 and (EC) No 1224/2009 and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 2371/2002 and (EC) No 639/2004 and
Council Decision 2004/585/EC.
Regulation (EU) 2016/2336 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 establishing specific conditions for fishing for deep-
sea stocks in the north-east Atlantic and provisions for fishing in international waters of the north-east Atlantic and repealing Council Regulation (EC)
No 2347/2002.
According to Regulation (EC) No 734/2008 of 15 July 2008 on the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems in the high seas from the adverse
impacts of bottom fishing gears, those ecosystems include, for example, reefs, seamounts, hydrothermal vents, cold water corals and cold water
sponge beds.
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1614 of 15 September 2022 determining the existing deep-sea fishing areas and establishing a list
of areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems are known to occur or are likely to occur.
According to Regulation 734/2008, bottom gears are gears deployed in the normal course of fishing operations in contact with the seabed, including
bottom trawls, dredges, bottom-set gill nets, bottom-set longlines, pots and traps. Trawls are mobile gears which are towed in the marine
environment, whereas passive gears (such as longlines) are fixed at a specific point of the marine environment.
Communications Directorate