Fleet of over 50 fishing boats take to the Ijsselmeer in protest of wind farms

Fishers from Urk and Harderwijk took the Ijsselmeer on Saturday to demonstrate against the wind farms near the enclosing dike. The wind farms take away space to catch eel and scale fish, the fishers said.

“People need to understand that a wind farm is not the remedy for everything”, leader of the protest Anja Keuter said to De Stentor. Currently, there are 89 wind turbines in the water near Breezanddijk where the protest was held on Saturday.

“So many areas have been closed for fishers due to wind farms that we soon won’t have any space left to fish”, Keuter said to NOS Radio 1 Journaal. The fisherwoman also pointed out that the effects the wind farms have underwater are still unknown.

Wind farms were also said to kill dozens of birds every day that get hit up by one of the turbines.

Last year talks were held on how to distribute the North Sea among fishers, environmental organizations, the military and fracking businesses. The debates still have not concluded and Keuters said she is not optimistic, “I see very little benefit in it.”

Part of the agreement was that the Cabinet will invest 119 million euros to give to fishermen who wish to quit their profession in order to focus on smaller and more sustainable fleets.

“There have been talks about providing money but we have not seen one cent”, Keuters stated.

Wind farms have been built across the country in order to reach the goals of the climate agreement. The agreement states that 70 percent of the Netherlands energy consumption needs to be sustainable by 2030.