Seafish: Industry involvement key in eliminating discards

08 April 2011

The EC is expected to unveil proposals on the practice of discarding, in Brussels today (1 March 2011).  Seafish, the authority on seafood, is pleased Commissioner Damanaki is giving special attention to the issue of discarding in the context of reforming the Common Fisheries Policy but urges decision-makers to work closely with the seafood industry.

Seafish Head of Environmental Responsibility, Philip MacMullen, said:

"Discards have caused major concern to industry and the scientific community alike for many years.

"Quantifying and controlling discards is critical to effective management and also reduces waste. A major difficulty in addressing discarding is the wide range of causes, and the conditions - biological, social and economic - that require solutions to be fishery-specific.

"Our concern is that the approach being proposed does not differentiate enough between fisheries and only draws on a few of the possible means of minimising discards.

"We believe that the industry itself is capable of resolving discarding and there are many examples of initiatives being taken that are having a dramatic effect. But in order to extend these benefits, an enabling framework must be created. An essential first step is to benchmark levels of discarding at an appropriate (fishery) scale and over a representative time period. This, in turn, requires capacity-building so that comprehensive catch-sampling becomes the norm - either via total catch monitoring systems or fisher self-sampling. Without knowledge of the status quo we simply won't know our direction of travel.

"A five to ten-year time scale should be set by which discarding should be reduced to zero or, where this is shown not to be practicable, to an agreed minimum level. Fishery-specific plans should be established and monitored involving spatial management, gear development, technical measures, market intervention and product development. The introduction of measures influencing fishing effort have to be monitored to ensure that the impacts of unintended consequences - for example displaced effort or escape mortality - remain within acceptable limits. For this, and all other measures, safety-based risk assessments should also be incorporated into the planning and monitoring aspects.

"This approach could be taken by regional groups, recognised under a reformed CFP, that understand the nature of their fisheries and can tackle discarding as part of a wider, long term, sustainable management strategy. Such groups are more likely to be able to develop realistic, pragmatic solutions based on evidence and the prevailing operating realities.

"We hope, therefore, that the high level meeting will agree to the close involvement of practitioners in any detailed planning, and to a time scale that respects the need for flexibility, evaluation and adaptation."