In October 2002, on the request of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, the Wadden Sea was designated by the International Maritime Organisation as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area. However, the safety of the Wadden Sea is hanging in the balance owing to various developments. Examples include the increasing risk of a disaster involving a poorly-maintained single-hulled tanker in the North Sea, the danger of economies on materials that are needed to combat a disaster and economies on the sea lane marking in the North Sea, which will result in a less clear and, accordingly, less safe sea lane. Moreover, the compulsory pilotage in the Wadden Sea itself has been relaxed without being replaced by navigational support.
This discrepancy between the recognition of the vulnerability of the area on the one hand and a number of developments that reduce the protection of the area on the other has prompted the Council to publish this unsolicited advisory document.

The Council is making the following recommendations:
* The environmental component of the training programme for mariners must be increased.
* In any event, information material must be made available in the Dutch harbours in the Wadden area, explaining the vulnerability of the area and its status as a PSSA.
* Vessels must discharge their waste in the harbours as efficiently as possibly without having to remit immediate payment and without the process invol-ving a large administrative burden.
* Research must be focussed more on the prevention of spills and on the reduction of spills in case of incidents.
* The research programme into combating oil and other environmentally-harmful substances must be completed sooner than in 2010.
* Not only the North Sea directorate but also the Northern Netherlands directorate of the Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management must be involved in this research programme.
* The Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management must gear its oil combating organisation to a larger discharge than the 30,000 cubic metres of oil which currently form its starting point.
* Incentives must be created to quickly phase out single-hulled tankers at European level (on the short term) and at IMO level (at a longer term).
* Russia should be involved in the phasing out of single-hulled tankers.
* Smaller passing tankers and carriers in the North Sea must be obliged to take the northern sea lane.
* The shipping lanes in the North Sea must continue to be shown on both sides.
* The Netherlands must refer other European countries to their obligation to inspect 25% of the vessels that put into the harbours.
* The percentage of 25% inspections must also apply individually to the northern harbours and not only to the whole of the Netherlands, and the inspections must concentrate mainly on vessels with a high risk factor. A risk analysis must therefore be drawn up for each harbour.
* Better protocols must be drawn up for harbour inspections and their implementation must be supervised.
* The minimum European criteria for the environmental inspections must be implemented in Dutch maritime legislation as soon as possible.
* The Shipping Inspectorate must make firm agreements with the Public Prosecutions Department regarding the active investigation and prosecution of those violating maritime legislation, such as putting to sea with poorly-maintained ships and those committing illegal discharges.
* It is necessary to establish how checks on illegal discharges can be made more intensive and cover a larger area.
* At least the AIS monitoring system, or preferably VTS systems must be used for the entirety of the sea lanes to the north of the Wadden islands.
* It is necessary to look into the question of whether all lighthouses on the Wadden islands can once again be manned.
* The need for and the possibility of navigational support in the Wadden Sea must be looked into.
* The effects of relaxing the compulsory pilotage in the Wadden Sea a few years ago must be looked into.
* In the event of a disaster occurring, there are many different regulations that can be applicable. These regulations must be geared more closely to each other.
* The disaster plans for the land, for the North Sea and for the Wadden Sea, must be geared more closely to each other on short notice. There must be clarity regarding who is responsible for what.
* In the event of vessels foundering in the North Sea, the Minister for Public Works and Water Management can designate a harbour to which the vessel must be towed. The same would have to apply to foundering vessels in the Wadden Sea.
* The possibility of economies affecting the vessels of the sea lane marking department, which can also clean up oil, must be compensated for by purchasing other equipment that can be used to clean up oil.
* It is necessary to establish whether and how agreements can be made with private fishers regarding the use of their vessels in combating disasters.
* The co-operation between managers in the event of a disaster must be practised more frequently.
* The agreements with Germany and Denmark concerning disasters must be more clearly explained.
* The possibility of making insurance for tankers in the North Sea compulsory must be looked into.
* The European Environmental Liability Directive and the ecological annex must also be taken on board.
* The European COPE fund, from which the costs of an oil fund can be covered if the existing international oil pollution fund dating back to 1971 provides insufficient cover, must be instituted as soon as possible.
* The question of whether the clean-up capacity is adequate must be looked into.
* Possible economies on the vessels of the sea lane marking service must not be permitted to result in poorer marking of the sea lanes nor in a loss of oil fighting capacity.
* Finally, research must be conducted into the risks of terrorist attacks, piracy, smuggling and illegal trade in and around the Wadden Sea.

Download this advice (pdf, 126 K).

The Wadden Sea Council is submitting a solicited advice to the State Secretary for Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries concerning sustainable fishing in the Wadden Sea. This outline vision begins by sketching the lines along which sustainable fishing for all forms of fishing in the Wadden Sea can develop. Maintaining the biodiversity and meeting the requirements that the Wadden ecosystem sets for physical and chemical processes in the area form an important precondition for achieving sustainable fishing in the Wadden Sea.

The conditions for ecologically-sustainable fishing must first be met before there can be any question of economically-sound fishing. This approach is substantiated in the vision by indicating which forms of fishing and fishing intensity are possible within the primary function of nature, so that the subsequent elaboration per species can address the way in which appropriate fishing activities can take place in an economically responsible manner. The complexity and intense dynamics of the Wadden ecosystem call for a large measure of flexibility when it comes to setting the catch quantities and interpreting fluctuations in the scope of the size of populations of indicator species. As well as quantitative criteria, there is also a need for qualitative criteria to make a good assessment of the current state of the Wadden ecosystem. Adopting a flexible approach to catch quantities and fishable species calls for flexible entrepreneurship on the part of fishers, and a regulation that facilitates this.

One of the instruments that can be used to achieve sustainable fishing is the use of co-management. The State Secretary will (actively) have to re-establish the collaboration process between the government, the sector and the interest groups. What is being called for in this regard is a plan-based approach that takes concrete form in respect of the time frame, the responsibilities of the participating parties and the perspective that is ultimately being sought. Co-management can ultimately result in considerable simplification of legislation.

The reservation of food for birds must be reviewed after 10 years. The starting point is that birds which normally forage in the Wadden Sea must in principle be able to find sufficient food in the Wadden Sea. Stable mussel banks and Spisula in the North Sea coastal zone form fall-back options for extreme situations. The geographical spread of the food supply must be guaranteed. Not enough is known about the requirements that many bird types set for the food supply. More clarity on this subject will have to be quickly gained. A more flexible approach can be taken to the food reserve for oyster catchers and eider ducks by concentrating more on the size of populations.

The current fishing activities are largely compatible with or can be made to fit in with the main objective for the Wadden Sea provided that certain conditions are met. In more concrete terms, measures will have to be put in place that result in creating and protecting sub-littoral mussel banks. Fishing of the littoral banks will again be possible as soon as the overall surface area is larger than 4000 ha. of stable mussel banks or a surface area that is deemed to be realistic and adequate on the basis of EVA II. Opening the entire Wadden Sea for seed mussel fishing in a situation with an optimum acreage of littoral and sub-littoral banks will only be possible if the objective referred to above is achieved and once it has become clear that fishing according to the Jan Louw principle yields results that are satisfactory for the ecosystem and seed mussel fishing. As soon as both conditions have been met, where seed mussel fishing is concerned a choice can be made to interweave functions in the sense that, regarding the possible fishing of mussel banks, the question of where and how mussel banks can be fished is reviewed and laid down in an annual fishing plan.

Regarding cockle fishing, the permitted catch quantity of 10 million kg of cockle meat will have to be reduced to a level that allows a considerable increase in older, fully-grown cockles throughout the Wadden Sea. It will also be necessary to steer a fishing process that focuses exclusively on economically attractive, fully-grown cockles. If it turns out that the quantity of cockles thus made available for mechanical cockle fishing is structurally less than 5 million kilograms of cockle meat a year, the State Secretary will have to rationalise part of the sector by buying it out.

Because of its small scale, manual cockle fishing matches up well with the conditions that the Council is setting for the fishing activities in order to achieve sustainable fishing. The smaller-scale fishing, including fishing with fixed fishing tackle, would be served by more flexible regulations in order to fish throughout more of the year, depending on the stock levels.

Regarding the shrimp fishing and the fine that was imposed by the Netherlands Competition Authority (Nma), clarity must be gained regarding the question of whether and how producer organisations can in the short term return to controlled fishing by working according to a collective fishing plan, for instance. Finally, further agreements will have to be made immediately with the European Commission regarding the maintenance of controlled fishing for all European, non-quota fish types.

Download the summary of this advice (pdf, 17 K).