Photo by Paul Einerhand

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has found that fishing activity is on average 72% higher inside marine Natura 2000 sites than outside them. The EU’s financial watchdog says the bloc is unlikely to meet its 2030 targets for marine protection.

The audit, published as special report 25/2026, concludes that designation alone is insufficient for meaningful protection. Around 13.7% of EU marine waters were designated as protected in 2023, against a target of 30% by 2030. Strict protection remains below 1%, against a target of 10%.

“The EU has made some progress in designating marine protected areas, but our audit shows that the true challenge is turning designation into actual protection,” said Iliana Ivanova, the ECA Member responsible for the audit.

Protection on paper

The auditors identify fishing, particularly bottom trawling, as the main threat to protected areas. They also found that funding for management, monitoring and enforcement is fragmented and insufficient.

They describe a network that does not function as a coherent ecological system. Key offshore and deep-sea habitats remain inadequately protected. The ECA has published an interactive dashboard mapping EU MPAs alongside the report.

The report landed during COP17 in Yerevan, where governments are assessing progress against the Global Biodiversity Framework, including its 30×30 target.

Litigation and enforcement

The MPA Legal Coalition includes ClientEarth, Blue Marine Foundation, the Environmental Justice Foundation, Oceana and Seas at Risk. It said: “Our oceans are in a terrifying state of decline. We can have all the pledges in the world to protect and restore them, but they mean nothing if those protections exist only on paper.”

The coalition is using strategic litigation to close what it calls the enforcement gap. In May, a Dutch court ruled that bottom trawlers could not fish the Dogger Bank Natura 2000 site without a permit and an environmental assessment. In June, a French court ordered stronger seabed protection in part of the Bancs des Flandres site. Coalition members are also challenging bottom-trawling licences in Spanish MPAs.

The coalition is calling on the European Commission to start infringement proceedings against member states that allow destructive activities in Natura 2000 MPAs. It also wants ringfenced funding in the next EU budget, and a European Ocean Act with enforceable obligations.

The findings will resonate in UK waters, where the same gap between designation and restriction underpins this week’s Greenpeace action.