A Brexit fishing ban on EU vessels in the North Sea will save vulnerable puffins and kittiwakes, Britain will tell Brussels on Wednesday in a first-of-its-kind court battle.

British lawyers will argue a decision to close off sand eel fisheries was taken to prevent a decline in the seabirds.

The hearing at the Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration marks the first formal trade spat between the UK and EU since the country left the bloc in 2020.

The row was triggered when Britain last March barred EU fishermen from catching sand eels in English and Scottish waters to boost wildlife that feeds on the silvery creature.

On Tuesday, lawyers representing the EU told the arbitration tribunal that the decision breached the post-Brexit fishing agreement struck by both sides.