20
Nov
Cod discards - wriggling Minister
Ahead of this years TACs and quotas discussions, much energy being spent on cod stocks with a great deal of focus on the discards of those stocks.
Most people in the industry know that excessive discards can be minimized by the use of the right technologies and that the impact on stocks can also be minimized by not fishing spawning and nursery grounds.
They also know that politicians more frightened of losing votes than they are of the results of ignoring science and not implementing controls, after all, most Ministers don’t last too long and are not accountable for their decisions.
Don’t forget, the Scottish Marine Directorate won’t introduce the no-take zone at Lamlash Bay as the commercial fishermen object to less than 0.01% of the Clyde being set aside.
So here’s a link to radio 4 and the UK Fisheries Minister, Jonathan Shaw, getting a grilling over why he thinks the best way to protect the recent small increase in cod stocks, is actually to catch more of them rather than nurture them.
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