The UK has hailed the first step towards a full ban on the
controversial practice of fish ‘discards’ whereby fishing vessels tip unwanted
fish back into the sea, Business Green reports.
January 1st marked the date when fishermen targeting pelagic
quota species such as mackerel, whiting, sprat and herring will have to land
all the quota fish they catch, with a similar rule for demersal fish including
cod and hake set to come into force at the start of 2016.
The move follows three years of hard-fought negotiations in
Brussels to reform the Common Fisheries Policy, which was marked by a high
profile public campaign to bring an end to the practice of discarding and
tighten restrictions on overfishing.
However, many of the new policy proposals faced opposition
from the fishing industry while the UK government reportedly led resistance to
moves to cut the amount of time fishermen can spend at sea.
Ministers argued the new approach would allow fishing
vessels to fish more selectively, helping to avoid discards and allowing full
quotas to be caught. They also hailed wider reforms, including a legally
binding commitment to fishing at sustainable levels and decentralised decision
making that allows member states to agree policy measures appropriate to their
fisheries.
However, a two-year delay of sanctions for violating the new
discard ban and the potential for the ban to be debated again later this year
prompted accusations from conservation groups that the regulations are not
sufficiently stringent.
UK Fisheries Minister George Eustice welcomed the ban but
admitted far more needs to be done to end discards for good.
"The long fight to reform the broken Common Fisheries
Policy has been won and today marks a significant milestone in our commitment
to fish more sustainably by ending the shameful practice of discarding
perfectly good fish," he said.
"But our work is not over. While it's widely recognised
pelagic fishing operations have relatively low discard rates we will continue
to work with fishermen to help them adjust to the new reforms and make the
transition as smooth as possible."
Read the article HERE.
The Aquaculturists
This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the
magazine International Aquafeed which is published by Perendale Publishers Ltd
For additional daily news from aquaculture around the world: aquaculture-news
No comments:
Post a Comment