Sandys: Campaign to End Fish Discards Starts to Pay Off
Today, the EU Fisheries Commissioner will outline her plans to end fish discards in a meeting with member states.
In response to the plans, Laura Sandys, MP for South Thanet and Sandwich said “I am so pleased that the commission has started to see sense and that through the campaigning we have done locally, the Minister has done internationally and the media coverage that TV chef Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall has achieved, that we will see the end to discards by 2013. Our Thanet fishermen have been at the forefront of the campaigning and I have been proud to stand alongside them. We believe that discarding fish into the sea is immoral and look forward to all the catch being landed into the future.
“It is an absolute scandal that over 50% of all fish caught are thrown back into the sea – dead. Having campaigned for the reform of our fisheries policy for many years, it is refreshing to see the Coalition government leading the way on reforming our fisheries policy. These new proposals better reflect the UK’s mixed fisheries.”
The Commissioner has suggested several options in managing fish stocks without the need for discards. These include limiting the amount of time boats can spend at sea; regulating the places where they can fish; counting all fish landed against quotas; closing mixed fisheries where the maximum quota of one species has been caught; and using CCTV, observers, electronic logbooks and monitoring ports.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please note comments that may be libellous, comments that may be construed as offensive and anonymous derogatory comments about real people will be deleted. Also note the facility to leave anonymous comment will be turned of during periods when I am unable to monitor comment, this will not affect people commenting who are signed on to their blogger accounts.
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.