Cameras to stop dumping

Fishery ministers from the 27 European Union (EU) nations have begun talks on how to modify near 25-year old quota policies on fish stocks preservation, one of the key proposals is the the installation of on-board monitoring cameras in return for bigger quotas in a new quota regime altogether.

Denmark has won support from several countries for a number of counter discard-at-sea measures, including the cameras proposal, though of course being the EU, the talks are not expected to produce a result until next year.

An EU report released in April had found that 88 per cent of fish species in EU waters are being unsustainably fished yet last year EU fleets sold 6.4 million tonnes of fish and discarded another estimated 50 per cent – 10 million tons of fish – that’s 45lb of fish for every man, woman and child in the EU.

Most of the fish discarded by fishers at sea die, say officials in the European Commission’s (EC) fisheries office. "To stay under their quotas, and make more money, fishermen discard half of what they catch," according to Mogens Schou, a Danish fishery official. "They ‘high-grade’ – in other words, only keep the most profitable fish."

As a result, EU fish stocks have plunged by as much as 75 per cent since 1982 for lucrative species such as cod. EU fishermen discarded 38 per cent of the 24,000 tonnes of cod they harvested last year according to International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) figures.

"What’s the point of setting a quota if fishermen aren’t accountable for the fish they actually catch?" asked Schou.

Indeed.

Category: EU Government News, Government