Dutch shrimp boats have been given a licence that will allow them to keep fishing until 2045, despite concerns about the environmental impact of the sector.

Junior agriculture and fisheries minister Jean Rummenie said the new licence had been “carefully” constructed to comply with legal restrictions, including the impact on nitrogen compound emissions.

Environmental organisations have already signalled they are lining up legal challenges to the new permit regime. The Waddenvereniging, a conservation lobby group representing the Wadden sea area, walked away from talks with the minister and the shrimp fishing industry in April.

The organisation disagreed with the fundamental principles of the licence, including the unusually long 20-year term, and the lack of conservation measures. “There was no point in continuing to discuss the conditions,” it said in a statement on its website.

Rummenie, who represents the farmers’ party BBB, said the extended permit, which will be re-evaluated every six years, would provide “clarity” for the sector. Shrimp fishing boats have been operating without a licence since the last one expired in 2023.

“This is what this sector, which is a real part of the Netherlands, deserves,” Rummenie told the Telegraaf. “The fishermen are the oldest users of the sea.

“We have worked this out very carefully. The ecological justification runs to hundreds of pages.”