Common sense on fishing discard policy may be watered down The EU common fisheries policy has been, since its inception, largely unfit for purpose in encouraging discards: the throwing away of dead fish simply because a quota had been filled or the “wrong” species caught. It is obvious that the policy had been going wrong given that the level of discards globally is 8% whereas in the EU it represents around 25% of all landed fish, some 1 million tonnes annually across the EU and amounting to a staggering 82,000 tonnes of cod, haddock and whiting in the North Sea alone. Following UK government pressure from Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon, MP when in office and the hugely successful campaign of TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the FishFight public campaign, enabling regulations were enacted by the EU Commission to reduce discards and bring in flexibility to stop this immoral and wasteful practice of throwing back perfectly acceptable fish, usually dead into the sea before landing. There are concerns that the enabling regulations, widely supported by campaigning groups, notably the Marine Conservation Society may be watered down at the PECH committee meeting in Brussels tomorrow {3rd December}. It is feared that the committee may alter the proposals and permit extra quota uplifts of 15%, non-serious infringements punishable by fine only and juvenile fish not being counted towards quota. This will water down good proposals into unworkable ones that additionally will promote overfishing and further depletion of vulnerable stocks. Craig Mackinlay, the Conservative candidate for South Thanet said “Ramsgate’s fishing fleet stands to lose from any watering down of the initial proposals as the fines for ‘non-serious infingements’ are likely to be simply paid by the often foreign-owned factory ships. I will be campaigning for wholesale changes to the Common Fisheries Policy as part of the Conservatives EU re-negotiation package after the election. I would seek a far broader exemption from quota and discard regulations in inner-fishing zones for Ramsgate fishermen operating smaller boats. Fishing undertaken by Ramsgate fishermen is environmentally friendly, comparatively small and largely serves local markets. I intend to be the champion of the local industry.” Ramsgate’s fishing fleet supports 100 direct jobs and up to 300 associated ones. ENDS Contacts:- Craig Mackinlay campaign@craigmackinlay 01843 589266 Sam Stone, Marine Conservation Society 01989 561658 mcsuk.org/what_we_do/Fishing+for+our+future/Fisheries+-+what+we+do/Discard+ban+%E2%80%93+dead+in+the+water+before+it+has+even+started
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 12:18:25 +0000