"Up to 20 million tons of fish are discarded in the sea worldwide every year.
"This is a waste of fish which could have been a valuable food resource. Norway has therefore put forward a proposal on developing international guidelines for bycatch management and reduction of discards to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)," Norway's Minister for Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, Helga Pedersen, said recently.
The proposal was put forward at the 28th meeting of the Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture (COFI) at the FAO, held between 2 and 6 March in Rome.
"This is an extremely important measure to ensure sustainable management of fisheries resources. I am delighted that Norway's proposal received broad support, and that with Norwegian financial backing the FAO will now initiate a process which will lead to international guidelines in this area. It is a major problem that fish which could be used as food are discarded, and the Norwegian Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs has put a lot of effort to address this issue over the last year," stated Ms Pedersen.
