Almost a third of Dutch shrimp fishermen have now applied for the government to buy out their boats. In 2022, the Dutch government practically declared shrimp fishermen “illegal” after using a nitrogen-calculation model called AERIUS to decree that their nitrogen emissions needed to be reduced to near zero. The government proposed a renewal of shrimp fishing permits in its Natura 2000 protected nature areas (the equivalent of the Wildlands Network in the U.S.), but only on the condition that the boats’ owners invest in a catalytic converter—a € 100,000 investment—of which the government subsidizes 50%. Notably, other shipping (containers, yachts) active in the same areas face no such requirements to lower emissions or “upgrade” their boats.
Not all small-business owners have the capability of making such expensive investments or the willingness to take the risk. However, the government’s offer of a buyout also comes with strings attached—the boats must be destroyed, the fishermen must turn in their fishing licenses, and they must agree that they will not start a new fishing business within the next five years.
In the same week when the permits were announced, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) admitted to major errors in the AERIUS model. Nonetheless, says the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature, this will have no impact on its issuance of conditional permits or its destruction of boats, as both are “voluntary” choices of the fishermen. The association of Dutch fishermen, EMK or “Unity gives power,” comments: “Is this really ‘voluntary,’ when there is mounting pressure from rules and regulations, and NGO pressure is turning our fishing grounds into forbidden zones?”
The report that I wrote in 2023 for Solari, Dutch Farmers and Fishermen: Local Heroes in the Global War on Our Food and Property Rights, describes how a policy tsunami of regulations is making running a profitable business impossible for both farmers and fishermen. When they reach the end of the line, with their backs against the wall, the government presents them with an “offer they can’t refuse.”
The Dutch Farmers and Fishermen report also documents the nefarious role of NGOs, which are operating as a fifth column to implement a worldwide UN land grab disguised as conservation policy.
Over the last 10 years, the fleet of larger fishermen’s boats in the Netherlands has been reduced by half, after the government offered fishermen similar “solutions” to the ones extended to the shrimp fisheries. In my 2023 Solari Report interview with Peke Wouda, he warned that he and his fellow shrimp fishermen would be next in line. And they are.
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