The marine conservation organisation considers that the first steps have been taken towards a serious debate that should hopefully lead to a total ban on discards.
This comes in direct response to the European Commission’s announcement regarding the publication of a Communication setting out an EU bycatch and discards policy, launching the debate on minimising fishing discards. The aim of this is to set in motion a process that will lead to a series of regulations for the elimination of this highly wasteful practice from EU fisheries.
Oceana welcomed the Commission’s decision to reactivate a process that had been shelved since 2002. At that time the Commission made its first commitments towards finding measures to reduce discards, which was felt by many to be essential for such a destructive phenomenon. The Commission’s document analyses the damage done by this practice to the ecosystem and the threat it poses to fish stocks. The causes of discards, which mainly arise from how current fisheries management is focussed, are also identified and analysed. The Commission’s Communication includes the implementation of a progressive ban on discards.
Ricardo Aguilar, Head of Research for Oceana in Europe is on the whole supportive of the Communication: “This document sets out to change the management focus, for example with quotas based on catches and not on quantities unloaded at port, something which Oceana has been calling for”. He adds: “The minimising of discards as outlined in this process has already been delayed for over four years, so let’s hope this initiative is a fruitful one and does not get bogged down in mere declarations of goodwill”.
