CCTV on fishing boats get green light

Seven skippers have been selected from a list of volunteers to participate in the pilot which will use CCTV to enhance monitoring, control and observation capability. Installation of the CCTV monitoring equipment is expected to take place over the next month as part of the £100,000 initiative.

A similar plan in Denmark has already begun to show hugely successful results in cutting discards. The Scottish boats will deliver a wide range of information from both the North Sea and the west coast.

It's claimed a significant amount of fish that is currently caught could be legally landed but instead is actually discarded.

One important reason is the mismatch between the quota available for North Sea cod and the increased abundance of the stock, particularly the abundance of marketable fish above the minimum landing size.

Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said:

"The scandal of dumped fish has shot up the agenda since we held our Discards Summit and revealed that around £40 million worth of marketable fish is thrown back into the North Sea every year. Working together we can come up with a solution which benefits everyone - fishermen, the environment, and consumers.

"This is a hugely exciting initiative using cutting edge technology that can make a substantial contribution to scientific data, fisheries management behaviour and discards reduction."

The main aims of the pilot projects are:

• To ascertain if it can be used as an effective tool to provide reliable catch/discard observation data

• To establish if it can incentivise fishermen to comply with fisheries management systems and stock conservation initiatives

• To ascertain if it can be used as an effective enhancement to current monitoring and control capabilities particularly with reference to mis-reporting and compliance with discarding bans

• To supplement the work of the Conservation Credits Steering Group (CCSG) in finding further innovative ways to reduce cod mortality