March 16, 2012 – Next Monday, March 19 2012, fisheries ministers from the 27 EU Member States will gather in Brussels to discuss the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy and in particular the discard ban proposed by the European Commission.
Because discarding unwanted catches poses both ethical and environmental problems, Oceana strongly supports a ban that includes the obligation to land all catches accompanied by technical measures to reduce and eliminate unwanted catches, as the best way to stop this waste of resources.
Despite years of policies aimed at improving the selectivity of fishing techniques in Europe, discards still represent 13% of European catches, amounting to 1, 3 million tonnes thrown overboard dead or dying each year, says Oceana.
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