Dumping North Sea fish 'immoral': 40%-60% of EU fish caught dumped

European Union quotas strictly limit the amount of fish that vessels can bring back to port, but there is no restriction on the amount of fish they actually catch.

The EU estimates that between 40% and 60% of fish caught by trawlers in this area is dumped back into the sea.

BBC News 20 Nov 07

Fisheries Minister Jonathan Shaw has agreed that dumping thousands of tonnes of dead fish back into the sea because of EU fishing quotas is "immoral".

He said he supported the view of EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg and would be pushing for quota increases.

The fishing industry has warned it faces ruin because fish caught after quotas are exceeded have to be dumped.

But environmentalists say quotas are necessary to protect stocks, and want to see a change in fishing practices.

40%-60% dumped

European Union quotas strictly limit the amount of fish that vessels can bring back to port, but there is no restriction on the amount of fish they actually catch.

BBC rural affairs correspondent Jeremy Cooke found that boats fishing in the "mixed fishery" of the North Sea often accidentally catch a species or size of fish which is above their quota and have to throw the "discard" back.

The EU estimates that between 40% and 60% of fish caught by trawlers in this area is dumped back into the sea.

Mr Borg - who is instrumental in setting the laws and limits - described such discarding of fish as "immoral" but said there was no clear solution.

"The problem is when we come to work out the details of how to eliminate discarding but at the same time have sustainable fisheries - that is the big problem."

Mr Shaw said it was an "absolute waste" to throw good quality fish back into the sea.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he would be pushing for an EU cod quota increase as well as looking at technological solutions, such as nets that would catch only certain kinds of fish.

"We have seen a recovery in cod in the North Sea in particular - now that is good news," he said.

"So that is why we will be pressing the commission at the annual round in December for an increase in cod and hopefully that will help the fishermen."

Trawler skipper Phil Walsh told BBC News he had landed all of the cod he was allowed by June this year.

Since then, he has been fishing for prawns and dumping prime whiting, haddock and cod, which would fetch as much as £13.50/kg on a supermarket shelf.

"I can't describe the feeling really," he said.

"It's your livelihood and you spend your life trying to catch it and then you have to throw it back over the side.

"It's an impossible situation and, unless it is sorted out soon, we will all be finished."

Marine protection

Many Scottish and English fishermen say they have seen a huge increase in the number of cod in the North Sea this year and now want an increase in the quota level for cod and other white fish they catch.

"I feel very bitter because we've been so long trying to protect the cod," said trawler skipper David Mell.

"[We've had] decommissioning, increased our mesh size, we've been through a lot of pain really.... [But] I thought I would never see the day that I had to throw adult cod overboard."

But environmentalists, who have for years been sounding the alarm bell over the decline of North Sea fish stocks, say now is not the time to increase the amount being caught.

They say quotas are essential to ensure spawning stocks are allowed to mature and to breed.

But, like the fishermen, activists such as the World Wildlife Fund's Helen McLachlan agree that throwing dead cod back into the water is not the answer.

Instead, she said, there must be a change in fishing practices.

"Nobody wants discards," she said.



"So let's not catch the fish in the first place.

"Let's avoid areas where there are going to be large spawning stocks of fish, let's avoid juveniles... let's use selective gear so [a fisherman can say], 'I will only catch prawns, I will not catch white fish'."

Oliver Knowles, a campaigner for Greenpeace, also believes quotas are not working for the UK's mixed fisheries.

He says the only answer is to stop fishing altogether in 40% of the world's oceans.

"Most importantly, I think you have got to create marine reserves. We don't have any proper protection for the marine environment.

"We are talking about a very large scale - about 40% - and Greenpeace isn't alone in calling for protected areas at around that size."

Minister criticised on cod quotas
Richard Black, BBC news 20 Nov 07;

Fisheries scientists and conservation groups have criticised Environment Minister Jonathan Shaw over his call for an increase in the UK's cod quotas.

The minister said he would be lobbying for an increase when EU ministers meet next month to decide 2008 quotas.

Leading researchers, including the EU's advisers, say stocks are still too low.

Conservation groups are urging the government to mandate introduction of nets that can target haddock or prawn without catching cod accidentally.

"I would say that 'business as usual' in the North Sea is not an acceptable position for a minister to be taking," said Helen MacLachlan, senior marine policy officer with WWF UK.

"To be looking for an increase in cod quotas without changing fishing practices is unsustainable and untenable."

Mr Shaw suggested a quota increase was justified because British prawn fishermen say they are catching a large amount of cod accidentally, which have to be discarded.

Missing quota

North Sea cod stocks have shown a slight recovery over the last few years, with the result that the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (Ices), which advises the European Union, recommended that a catch of about 11,500 tonnes was sustainable for 2008.

That is about half the catch that European ministers awarded themselves last year. But Mr Shaw said the government was looking for an increase next year, not a reduction.

"We will be pressing the [European] Commission at the annual round in December for an increase in cod, and hopefully that will help the fishermen," he said.

The chair of Ices' advisory committee on fisheries management, Dr Martin Pastoors, told BBC News that the science did not justify Mr Shaw's position.

"We are recommending a reduction in catches, the reason being that that although stocks are improving, they are still at a very low level," he said.

"Our estimate of the adult stock size is around 35,000 tonnes; and if you go back to the 1970s, it was above 250,000 tonnes."

An unusually large number of fish born in 2005 are still in the North Sea, he said.

"Fishermen are seeing lots of cod that are not mature yet, and interpreting that as proof that there's been a large increase. But we need the adult stock to be at a safe level."

Professor Callum Roberts from the University of York said Mr Shaw did not appear to appreciate the details of the situation.

"If he's suggesting increases in cod quotas then he doesn't seem to be fully in control of his brief yet," he said.

"Yes, we need to get rid of discarding - I agree it's an appalling waste to throw so much stuff over the side - but keeping all the catch cannot be done by itself, it needs to be done alongside other measures."

He said the key was to switch from a management system based on quotas to one based on limiting fishing effort - the days boats spend at sea and the type of gear they are allowed to use - and marine protected areas.

Fine adjustment

Prawn trawlers currently use fine-mesh nets with "escape hatches" of much larger mesh size in the top, to allowed some of the white fish to swim out.

Scientists at the Scottish government's Fisheries Research Services in Aberdeen found that increasing the mesh size in the top could allow a majority of cod to escape. They have also created nets that will catch haddock and whiting, but not cod.

"We found this out 25 years ago," said Dick Ferro, until recently head of the agency's fishing technology and fish behaviour group.

"As the net approaches, we observed that haddock and whiting and and saithe swim upwards, while cod and flatfish and prawns stay low."

Their design separates fish as they swim in, haddock heading to a higher enclosure and cod escaping lower down.

However, some of these technologies lead to fishermen losing a small portion of their target catch as well.

"If all designs for bycatch reduction that are now gathering dust in various research laboratories were put to use, the world's fisheries would be in a better shape," commented Professor Roberts.

"There are lots of good intentions out there, but there's been a lack of political will to implement them. So if you want people to use these approaches, you have to force them through legislation, and you probably also have to supply some kind of transitional payment."

Until such time as measures such as separator nets and marine reserves are mandatory, said Helen MacLachlan, there should be no question of simply asking for more quota.

"The last time we had a large year class of cod come through, we completely fished it out within a few years because we were so short-sighted.

"We absolutely cannot let it happen again."