The European Parliament adopted a report reacting to the Commission communication “A policy to reduce unwanted by-catches and eliminate discards in European fisheries”. According to MEPs, the most sensible way to proceed is by choosing a number of pilot fisheries, based upon the quantity of discards produced or on the conservation status of the species involved. Two possible candidates would be the various beam trawl fisheries and those fisheries that catch and discard cod.
Scottish government position
The report welcomes the recent introduction by the Scottish Government, in cooperation with the Scottish fishing industry, of a voluntary system of real time area closures whereby fishing grounds will be closed for a three-week period in the event of skippers identifying a high abundance of undersized cod. The committee believes that schemes such as this, the first of its kind in Europe, have the potential to contribute to the reduction of discards whilst working with the full co-operation of the fishing industry.
Beginning on 1 September 2007, the Scottish industry, in cooperation with the Scottish Executive, initiated a voluntary system of real-time closures. If on-board observers detect catches of small cod (specifically, 60 cod per hour of fishing) then further samples are taken and, if confirmed, a closed area of 15 miles square is created for a period of 21 days. Vessels from other Member States are encouraged to follow the scheme.
By-catches and discards are a serious ecological and economic problem. On the one hand they are responsible for the imbalance seen in some ecosystems, and on the other hand they have been identified as the main cause of the depletion of stocks, some of them with a high commercial value, such as cod. Discards have been estimated to be between 7 million and 27 million tonnes per year worldwide, equivalent to one quarter of all fish and other species caught.
In a report drawn up by Carl SCHLYTER (Greens/EFA, SE), the European Parliament welcomes the Commission’s new attempt to stimulate discussion about this serious subject “with a view to finally shifting the emphasis of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) so that the practice of discarding is ultimately eliminated”.
According to MEPs, one effective action to reduce unwanted by-catches and discards is a reduction in overall fishing effort, “since depleted stocks consist mainly of under-sized fish”, accompanied by an improvement in selective measures. They recognize that “reduced fishing pressure would provide significant benefits for the industry by allowing depleted stocks to recover and become more productive as well as saving time and effort in sorting the catch”.
Incentives for the industry to improve its fishing practices
The EP encourages the Commission, the Member States and other stakeholders to consider the “use of incentives for the industry to improve its fishing practices”, mentioning various possibilities for such incentives, including:
allowing more days at sea or increasing the allowable fishing time, for vessels using more selective gear;
providing preferential access for vessels using selective gear to areas that are closed to those vessels not using selective gear;
allowing vessels with more selective gear to fish during times when others are not allowed.
“The industry would respond more favourably and with greater effect to a combination of positive and negative incentives, which should be given an opportunity to produce results”, MEPs say, adding that “a discard ban should be implemented after other types of negative incentives have been tried, including timed series of increases in mesh sizes, closed areas and others”.
If discard bans are adopted for specific fisheries, then “in order to avoid perverse incentives such as creating a market for small fish or fish caught without quotas, such fish should not be marketed directly under any circumstances”. The House considers that “the vessels may be compensated for the costs incurred in bringing to shore what they would have discarded”. MEPs say that, for example, “the fish involved could be used for fishmeal and fishoil production with any such company utilising this facility contributing to a regionally organised compensation fund”.
Pilot projects
According to the EP, the most sensible way to proceed is by choosing a number of pilot fisheries, based upon the quantity of discards produced or on the conservation status of the species involved. The pilot projects should be selected in several zones to represent the geographical variety of Community fisheries. Each pilot project must also involve a sufficient number of vessels to cover the diversity of the fishery as well as to ensure good information exchange with others in the fishery.
MEPs suggest that two possible candidate fisheries would be the various beam trawl fisheries as well as those fisheries that catch and discard cod. While these pilot projects are proceeding, other fisheries should be evaluated for their discard rate.
The report was adopted with 616 votes in favour and 22 against.
