Discards

Discards are those parts of the catch that are returned to the sea. It is important to emphasise that discarding is not a universal problem affecting all fisheries. The level of discarding varies widely between fisheries, and within fisheries.

Some fisheries are almost completely 'clean', others may discard more than they retain, and in some fisheries discarding is a good thing. Assessing how much of a problem discarding poses, and to whom, can be complex. There is no doubt that the discarding of fish wastes resources and there is an urgent need to implement measures to reduce the level of discards.

There are many different reasons for discarding but the two major reasons are market conditions and management regulations. Both these sets of conditions can change by season or by fishing area, even within one fishery.

Market conditions may result in fish being discarded because they are completely non-commercial and therefore have no economic value; they are of a marketable species but of low value and not worth keeping; or the fish are mechanically damaged and are of such reduced value that they are not worth keeping.

Fish may also be discarded because of management regulations - so called 'regulatory discards'. Regulations restrict the retention of fish that are a commercial species but below the legal minimum landing size (MLS); restricted by quota so that there's no entitlement to land them; or non marketable because of catch composition restrictions (there are rules controlling the relative proportion of species that may be held or landed in some fisheries).

Seafish Publications

Fishing News articles - a practical perspective on how to reduce discards