The denl boundary is still undecided in the Dollard-Eems area, which
is leading to a conflict at the moment. I have translated three
articles for you, and will, of course, keep you posted about further
developments. The Dutch navy is still in the harbour, though...

Peter S.

(1)

Germans fish all mussel banks in no man's land of Eems-Dollard

The Wadden association is furious about the issuing of a permit by
the German fishery department to a German mussel fishing company to
fish for mussels on a young mussel bank near Delfzijl. The bank is
situated at De Hond, a sandbank that falls dry at low tide in the
Eems-Dollard area.

The bank is very important as a food source for oyster-catchers and
eider ducks. The Wadden association has asked its German sister
association to take juridical action and asks the Dutch government to
conclude better agreements with Germany on this territory, that is
claimed by both the Netherlands and Germany.

Oyster-catchers and eider ducks eat cockles and mussels. The last
years, there are serious food problems for these birds. That is why
especially environmental organisations were very pleased with the new
mussel banks at De Hond. These are there since 1999. The mussel banks
are becoming rare in the Wadden Sea, since they were completely
fished empty in the beginning of the `nineties.

The Dutch authorities want the mussel banks to be restored. That is
why parts of the Wadden Sea are closed for fishery that touches the
sea floor, so that hopefully new mussel banks will develop. The
closed area also includes De Hond.

Both Germany and the Netherlands claim juridical power over De Hond.
Sovereignty over the territory is taken care of in the Eems-Dollard
Treaty of 1996. The fishing permit that is issued can only be
challenged in court by German organisations.

The fishing away of the mussel bank is not the only activity that is
permitted by Germany in the internationally protected nature reserve
of the Wadden Sea. Recently, for example, it was decided that sand
may be dredged on the northern coast of Germany. Apart from that, in
Wilhelmshaven a new sea port for big container ships is being built.

In October, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark will hold a
ministerial conference in Esbjerg about the Wadden area. On the
agenda is, amongst other things, the placement of the area on the
World Heritage List. According to the Wadden association, this
nomination too will give insufficient protection. Binding rules for
all three Wadden countries is what is needed, they say.

Source: Groninger Dagblad (newspaper for the province of Groningen),
May 17, 2001

(2)

Germany allows mussel banks to be fished away in no mans land in Eems-
Dollard area
Wadden association furious at German fishery authorities

GRONINGEN/HARLINGEN The Wadden association is furious over the fact
that the German Fischereiamt [Fishery Department] has given a permit
to a German mussel fishing company to fish for mussels on a young
mussel bank near Delfzijl. The mussel bank is situated at De Hond, a
sandbank that falls dry at low tide, in the Eems-Dollard area, which
forms part of the Wadden Sea, and is of great importance to oyster-
catchers and eider ducks. The Wadden association has asked its German
sister association to take juridical action and asks the Dutch
government to conclude better agreements with Germany on this
territory, that is claimed by both the Netherlands and Germany.

Oyster-catchers and eider ducks eat cockles and mussels. The last
years, there are serious food problems for these birds. The oyster-
catcher population has diminished by a third, and there has been a
large mortality rate amongst eider ducks for the last two winters.
The absence of natural mussel banks in the Wadden Sea plays a big
role in this bird mortality.

The Dutch government and the nature conservation organisations were
therefore very pleased with the new mussel bank on De Hond, which
lies there since 1999 and is therefore "gale proof". Natural mussel
banks can become tens of years in age and very large, and will form
all of this time a fantastic feeding source for birds. The mussel
banks have become very scarce in the Wadden Sea, however, since they
were fished away in the early `nineties. The Dutch authorities want
the mussel banks to be restored, as part of the shell-fishery policy.
This is why they have closed a part of the Wadden Sea to sea floor
touching fishing, hoping that in this way new mussel banks will
develop. De Hond is part of this area.

As has been mentioned, De Hond is situated in disputed area. Both
Germany and the Netherlands claim juridical power there. Sovereignty
over the territory is taken care of in the Eems-Dollard Treaty and
the environmental protocol of 1996 which is attached to it. Apart
from that, agreements have been made on Trilateral Ministerial
Conferences. The Netherlands and Germany have agreed, amongst others,
that they will designate sand plates that fall dry at low tide in the
boundary area to be protected and closed to fishing. The Netherlands
have done this, but Germany still hasn't. The Eems-Dollard Treaty,
the Protocol, and the Ministerial Agreements are clearly
insufficiently binding, considering the fact that Germany, in spite
of the international agreements, still issues permits to do this very
harmful fishing. Of good neighbourly relations, which the Treaty
demands, there is even less talk.

The fishing permit that has now been issued can only be challenged in
court by German organisations. This is possible because of the fact
it contradicts the Eems-Dollard Treaty, but also because of
contradiction of the European Bird and Habitat Directive. This is why
the Wadden association has immediately asked its German sister
organisation to take action.

The fishing away of the mussel bank is not the only activity that is
permitted by Germany in the internationally protected nature reserve
of the Wadden Sea. Recently, for example, it was decided that sand
may be dredged north of the Elbe-Weser triangle, near a number of
bird islands, and that in Wilhelmshaven a new sea port for big
container ships will be built. These are all actions that directly
affect the natural values in the Wadden Sea.

In October this year, a trilateral ministerial conference will be
held on the Wadden area in Esbjerg, Denmark.
On the agenda is, amongst other things, the placement of the area on
the World Heritage List. The government, according to junior minister
Geke Faber, is very proud of this. But the label "World Heritage" is
not going to offer any hard protection to the area either. What is
needed are rules that bind all three Wadden countries, Germany,
Denmark, and the Netherlands, in the same way and directly.

Source: Waddenvereniging [Wadden association], May 17, 2001. Url:
www.waddenvereniging.nl

(3)

Disputed mussel bank gone to the dogs
A mussel bank between the Netherlands and Germany is at stake in a
conflict between both lands. German fishermen have fished the bank
empty. The Netherlands are furious.

by Arjen Schreuder

EEMSHAVEN, May 23 The Germans have done their work thoroughly. A
very natural, stable, mussel bank in the eastern Wadden Sea has been
fished away. In disputed area.

On the sandbank, falling dry at low tide, De Hond-De Paap, on the
boundary between the Netherlands and Germany, ten days ago at last a
real bank was lying, thanks to a succeeded settlement of mussel seed
two years ago. Now, all what remains are some entangled mussels. In
the ponds some shrimps shoot to and forth. On the edges of the area
the wooden poles, that the fishermen used to mark the area, still
remain.

All mussel seed is taken away by the nets of three German fishing
boats, that, to the astonishment of conservationists and junior
minister G. Faber (nature conservation), received a permit from the
government of the German federal land Lower Saxony to fish on three
sections of the sand plate approximately 1,000 tons of mussel seed.
Earnings: about a million guilders. Faber, in a hot-tempered letter
to R. Künast, the German minister of Agriculture: "As I see it, good
neighbourly relations should mean that permits are only issued after
consultations and agreement with the neighbouring country."

The mussel bank is on the boundary of the Netherlands and Germany,
on a sand plate that falls dry at low tide, which has been disputed
for many years, and about which agreements have been made in the Eems-
Dollard Treaty of 1960. Dejected, the action leader of the Wadden
association Lian Rombouts picks up a remaining string of
mussels. "This is hard", he says. "If the Netherlands let this
happen, you might as well flush that treaty down the loo." Recently,
a Dutch mussel fisherman was fined for fishing mussel seed on this
bank. Not long thereafter, the Dutch saw their German colleagues
happily fishing the Dutch mussel bank away. "Blunt", says Rombouts.

Also Klaas Kreuijer, of the Wadden Sea Special Tasks section of the
ministry of Agriculture, is shocked by what the Germans have done. On
the Harder, a ship of the ministry, he tells me that there were once
4,000 hectares of mussel banks in the Wadden Sea. And that they were
virtually all gone ten years ago. That seven years ago, a modest
start of restoring the banks had been made. And this mussel bank was
a sign of hope.

Mussel banks on sand plates that fall dry at low tide are essential
to many birds, like the oyster-catcher, and for migratory birds like
the curlew and the zwarte ruiter [I couldn't find the English
translation for this bird, which is called Tringa erythropus in
Latin]. "For migratory birds, the Wadden Sea is the only fuel station
on the way to their destination", Lian Rombouts says.

In disbelief, the nature lovers walk on the sand plate, sometimes
sinking deep into the mud. Pictures are taken as evidence. Not only
the bank is gone to the dogs, they see, but the mussels were also too
large to be allowed to be fished as mussel seed. "These mussels are
longer than four centimetres", Uilke van der Meer of the German
sister organisation of the Wadden association says. As if it wasn't
bad enough.

Source: NRC Handelsblad newspaper, May 23, 2001