There is widespread agreement on the critiques to the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and fishing impacts on the marine ecosystem, e.g. low fish stocks, loss of biodiversity and high levels of discarding. Aspirations for a better protection of marine ecosystems are now formally set out in the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) (2008/56/EC) and are under way through the reform of the CFP (COM, 2011: 425). The Belgian marine fisheries fleet is dominated by beam trawlers. Beam trawling can experience considerable pressure from the latest EU legislation, as this fishery is clearly questioned for its ecological effects (e.g. discarding). One example is the need for fisheries measures in Natura 2000 sites, which is likely to impact the Dutch beam trawlers for instance in the proposed Natura2000 sites in the Netherlands.