November 24, 2014 — Member state governments need to wake up and assert their authority over the European Commission (EC) to prevent the ban on fishermen discarding catches at sea bankrupting large swathes of the industry, according to a joint statement from two industry bodies.
That is the message ahead of the December Fisheries Council from two of Scotland’s biggest fishing bodies, the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association (SWFPA) and Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA).
With only a marginal quota increase for haddock and potential reductions for species such as cod and whiting in prospect at the ongoing EU/Norway discussions leading up to the annual EU summit on Dec. 15, EC officials are apparently dismissive of serious impediments to the introduction of the discard ban for the main white fish stocks in January 2016.
The SWFPA and the SFA believe that fishermen will be put out of business unless there is an urgent rethink about how fishing opportunities are set for 2015 and beyond.
“No fisherman that I know is happy throwing perfectly good fish back into the sea, which is why both the SWFPA and SFA support the intent of the landings obligation,” said Mike Park, chief executive of the SWFPA.
“However, without significant increases in quota and the introduction of flexibilities to the quota system, it simply will not work,” he said.
“Fishing boats will go out of business because the new rules mean that all fishing must stop when vessels run out of the first quota,” said Park. “We call on the governments of all member states to recognize the serious dangers of allowing a ban to go ahead without significant additional changes to the management regime and the way they set catch limits.”
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