To discard fish means to expend precious fuel and time from days at sea recycling them out of and back to the ecosystem for no commercial gain ("EC plans threaten 1000 jobs in fishing industry", The Herald, July 14).
We discard because the current regulations force us to do so to remain legal. Discarding is not a problem in all fisheries. The species with the biggest tonnages and largest values landed by the Scottish fleet, mackerel and herring at a combined total of approaching 200,000 tonnes, have no discards at all. They are caught mostly clean and unmixed and when the quota limit is reached, fishing stops.
The discarding problem exists in mixed fisheries, typically in the North Sea, where species are caught together. The Common Fisheries Policy rules place a catch limit on each species and define the relative mix of fish that may be landed. The fish, regrettably, don’t read the rules and the ecosystem presents them in combinations and abundances that don’t match up. Adjustment by discarding to create legal landings is therefore unavoidable.
I do not defend this process but simply banning discards won’t address the problem. The ban proposed in the CFP reform proposals gives the illusion of dramatic progress by claiming an instant, simple cure. The public would not know that the European Commission has neatly body-swerved its responsibility for producing regulations that work. The Scottish industry and Scottish Government have worked hard together, with considerable success, on selective nets, closed areas and other innovations which make a practical difference to discarding. It is very hard to put this into public view in competition with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s TV programmes and a commissioner who does not seem to be able to resist the populist soundbite.
Scotland’s fishing industry has sustainability at the centre of its efforts. We hate discarding, not least because it costs us money, but to just ban it would be as effective, for example, as banning road accidents. We still have work to do but we are doing it.
Bertie Armstrong,
Chief Executive,
Scottish Fishermen’s Federation,
24 Rubislaw Terrace, Aberdeen.
The new fishing policy could mean more fish, better profits for fishermen and a real choice for consumers.
Now the proposals are out, politicians must chart a course for fairer fishing, where fishermen who do not harm the environment – for example, who avoid catching unwanted fish, or even seabirds, in their nets – are rewarded with more opportunities to make a living.
Subsidies, which are after all public money, must be used to protect Scotland’s amazing natural resources instead of bankrolling overfishing which ruins people’s livelihoods.
Some fishermen are already rewarded with higher prices and more sales by fishing sustainably. The public supports Scottish fishermen who do the right thing, and now Europe’s political leaders must do the same.
Kara Brydson,
Senior Marine Policy Officer,
RSPB Scotland,
2 Lochside View,
Edinburgh.
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