A recent agreement between the European Union and Norway will allow fishermen to land more fish in return for increased quotas.
The World Wildlife Fund on Friday praised the development, which aims to minimize discards, particularly for cod and whiting, and is urging EU fisheries ministers to endorse it at their meeting in Brussels on 13 and 14 December.
The agreement comes after the Scottish government last week released a report claiming that one-third of the fish caught in the North Sea is discarded.
“The current system of setting quotas based on what fishermen land instead of what they catch is indefensible. It is long overdue that we move to a system of catch quota management whereby fishermen catch less but land more,” said Louize Hill, WWF fisheries policy officer.
“By using onboard cameras and fully documenting catches and the state of stocks at sea, scientific data is also improved, added Hill. “It’s responsible, it’s transparent [and] it’s a win-win situation for both fish and fishermen.”
To successfully apply for the program, fisheries are required to ensure that the extra quotas remain sufficiently less than the estimated discard levels for that stock, prove that the existing long-term management plans are improved by stepping up control and enforcement discard levels for that stock, and shift from the long-term management of species to fisheries, which requires the reform of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy.
“Cod, haddock and whiting are caught at the same time by the same vessels. A system that manages species separately doesn’t make sense. Plans need to take into account the specificities of a fishery, they need to be designed by regional stakeholders including fishermen,” said Hill. “The current top-down, fragmented management is a failure but can be mended by an ambitious reform of the CFP.”
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