"EU must ban fish discard"
Thousands of tonnes of fish are dumped overboard from European fishing vessels. The EU must get the problem of discard under control, stresses Halldór Ásgrímsson, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers, in an opinion piece published in Nordic and international media.
- Photographer
- Johannes Jansson/norden.org
"Current EU rules grant fishermen a legal right to dump their catch overboard due to the prohibitions on landing non-quota fish or fish that do not meet the minimum size requirement. We believe that the EU should consider banning discard," writes Ásgrímsson in the article published in the EU Observer and Fishing News, as well as Norwegian 'Fiskaren' and Icelandic 'Morgunbladid'.
He pointed out that, for example, Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands have already banned discard. In practice, this means that all catch is landed, i.e. taken ashore. Denmark is conducting experiments with video surveillance of fishing boats to overcome dumping.
The current EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has been a dismal failure. The EU commission admits as much. Ásgrímsson believes that Nordic fisheries solutions may serve as a source of inspiration for reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
"Nordic fisheries management systems vary, but they offer many effective solutions, as shown by the countries' top rankings in international comparative studies," writes Ásgrímsson.
The EU presented its Green Paper on CFP reform in the spring, and the Commission has now invited other interested parties to submit comments. The Nordic Council of Ministers has taken up that invitation. The Council of Ministers is also publishing a study of Nordic fisheries solutions, which will hopefully serve as a source of inspiration within the EU. The Council of Ministers have been actively involved the reform process, which has included organising conferences with representatives from the EU.
Read the article in the EU Observer
