The Netherlands is scaling back its cooperation with the United States on anti-drugs operations in the Caribbean, limiting its role to Dutch territorial waters and stepping away from US-led actions at sea.

Defence minister Ruben Brekelmans said during a visit to Aruba on Monday evening that the Netherlands will no longer take part in independent American drug operations in international waters, according to a report by Trouw.

Brekelmans said the decision reflects a conscious choice to distance the Netherlands from the US military operation Southern Spear, Trouw said. That operation is directed entirely by Washington and includes the use of military force to disable suspected vessels at sea.

The Netherlands will not participate in that approach and will not provide facilities or resources for it, the minister is quoted as saying.

In recent months, at least 36 fishing boats have been destroyed at sea by US forces, with around 115 people killed. Those actions were carried out without legal process and without conclusive proof that the vessels were carrying drugs.

That approach, Trouw said, clashes with the Dutch position, which treats drug trafficking as a matter for investigation and prosecution within clear legal limits.

Brekelmans said the Netherlands will continue counter-narcotics operations in its own waters but will no longer deploy a naval ship in missions involving the use of military force outside Dutch jurisdiction.

The Netherlands has long cooperated with the United States and other countries on drug interdiction in the Caribbean, including through the Joint Interagency Task Force South.

The US operates counter-narcotics aircraft from two bases on Curaçao and Aruba under agreements signed in 2000 and 2001.

The participation of a Dutch naval ship in that mission has now been halted and the ship will instead be used to monitor the regional security situation, the defence ministry confirmed to Politico.

Information-sharing with the United States will continue, the defence ministry said, but without contributing to operations that could lead to lethal force at sea.

The Dutch said last year that the Dutch intelligence services are sharing less information with the United States and working more closely with European partners

The Dutch parliament is due to debate the situation in Venezuela on Thursday and the potential security risks for the Netherlands. Venezuela lies about 30 kilometres from Aruba.