Discards rule change could collapse EU's whitefish industry, warns Scottish Fishermen's Federation
Europe’s whitefish industry could collapse unless soon-to-be-implemented rules on the discarding of unwanted fish are abandoned or changed, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation has warned.
The alert was made in the run-up to the annual quota-setting summit of European Union (EU) fishing ministers in Brussels next month, which Scottish Fisheries Minister Richard Lochhead is scheduled to attend.
New EU rules to be introduced from January aim to slash discards – the practice of throwing surplus dead fish overboard. The rules, to be phased in between 2015 and 2019, are part of the new Common Fisheries Policy which got under way in January this year and will force skippers to land everything they catch.
It will begin by targeting pelagic (open ocean) fish, such as herring and mackerel, next year, then from January 2016 the ban will be extended to Scotland’s mixed whitefish demersal (those that live near the seabed) fish, where the exclusive targeting of specific species with no “bycatch” of unintended fish is practically impossible.
Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF), said problems would arise...
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