Disappointment as new rules to cut discards rejected by Brussels
20 November 2009
Regulations aimed at tackling discards have been blocked by a number of Member States during today’s (Friday 20 Nov) Council of European Fisheries Ministers talks in Brussels. [1]
Reacting to today’s news Louize Hill, Marine Policy Officer at WWF Scotland said:
“Scotland is among a number of Member States working hard to tackle the problem of discards. This includes developing innovative ideas such as onboard cameras to record catches and testing new selective gear to catch only the fish they can land. It’s therefore frustrating other countries seem to think we can wait until 2012 and the new reform of the Common Fisheries Policy to save our seas and the fish in them. Unfortunately this may be too late for certain species.”
Notes to the editors:
[1] The new tehcnical conservation regulations should have led to the introduction of larger mesh sizes in fishing nets, restricted fishing seasons to protect fish at vulnerable times and a revision of the minimum size fish can be caught at. According to estimates, in 2009, 40,000 tonnes of North Sea cod will be landed at port and up to 26,000 tonnes thrown back into the sea dead or dying, because they are too small or will not fetch a high enough price in market. This corresponds to an average loss of about 39 million euros and a huge waste of marine life.
[2] Technical Conservation Regulation proposal http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0324:FIN:EN:PDF
[3] Details of todays meeting: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/agricult/111297.pdf "The Council will then endeavour to reach political agreement on the conservation of fisheries resources through technical measures. "
