Forty kilometres off the Frisian coast, where the water turns dark green and the horizon drops away in every direction, a way of life is being closed off.

The Dutch government awarded three new offshore wind concessions in April, covering roughly 1,200 square kilometres of the southern North Sea. For the energy transition, this is a win. For the families who have fished these waters from the port of Harlingen for generations, it is the latest in a sequence of losses that has left their industry on the edge of collapse.

Fishing within active wind farm zones is technically permitted in the Netherlands but practically impossible. Vessels cannot trawl between turbine foundations without risking gear damage. Insurance companies are quietly raising premiums or refusing cover for boats that operate near turbine arrays. The effective exclusion is total, even where the law says otherwise.

The Frisian fishing fleet at Harlingen has shrunk from 68 active vessels in 2005 to 21 today. The wind farm expansion is not the only cause, but it is accelerating a contraction that was already under way. Cod and plaice quotas, fuel costs, and the average age of working skippers have all played a role. The new concessions simply remove more of the sea that remains.

The government has promised a compensation fund, but fishers who have spoken to officials say the numbers being discussed would cover perhaps two years of lost income, not the permanent closure of traditional grounds.

Off the Frisian coast, the turbines keep going up. The fishing boats keep coming in.