Fishermen in the Netherlands insist the controversial method is safe and have launched a campaign to get the decision overturned when the European Parliament, Commission and Council meet to ratify the ban.
The technique uses cables to send weak electric pulses along the seabed causing fish muscles to contract so they jump out of the sand and swim towards the fishermen’s nets.
MEP Mike Hookem, who serves as Ukip’s fisheries spokesman, described the practice as ”grotesque and highly destructive”.
Fishing with electricity was banned by Brussels in 1998 but in 2007 an exception was made for electric pulse fishing.
Countries in the North Sea were allowed to outfit five percent of their fleet with the technology in order to test its impact on fish stocks and the ocean ecosystem.
The Dutch widely adopted the technology and defend it on scientific grounds while the French say it devastates the ocean ecosystem and leaves a trail of dead fish in its wake.
Pim Visser, director of Dutch fishing lobby VisNed, said: “The only purpose of the pulse is to have the sole contract its muscles so that it starts swimming.”
It is also highly lucrative. A study showed Dutch fishermen using beam trawlers only managed to break-even in 2014, while their electrically powered competitors raked in £15million.
Trawler men manning the ships earned on average an extra £27,000 per year.
Annie Schreijer-Pierik, a Dutch MEP from the European People’s Party, said: “I wanted to show everybody that this pulse fishing technique is safe and sound.
“Too many other politicians tend to believe this fake news that gave the impression that fishermen use huge electro shocks in the sea, killing everything.”
A spokesman for French campaign group BLOOM said: “Electric currents have no mercy on marine life. The whole marine life is electrocuted.”
He said the technique’s impact on eggs, juveniles, plankton, water chemistry and electro-sensitive species likes sharks and rays has yet to be properly studied and cited a study that found 50 percent to 70 percent of large cod caught by pulse trawls had their spine broken after an electric shock.
The spokesman said: “The great efficiency of electric pulse fishing ensures short-term benefits but threatens to transform the ocean into a desert.”
The Dutch are hoping for a compromise solution as the issue heads into negotiations between the Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council.
A Dutch fisheries official said: “The Netherlands shouldn’t be the only country benefitting from pulse fishing technology.
“This matter has become a Dutch-French issue while it shouldn’t be.
“There is funding for European fishermen that they can apply for, and we should help other countries make use of the same technique.”