Approach to the discards ban is discussed by the Fisheries Council
09 April 2012
One of the issues most debated in the CFP reform debate is the issue of the discard ban, particularly the obligation to land all catches, and the impacts of such measures. Some member states which fish in ACP waters, including Spain and France, are proposing a joint declaration, published by CFP Reform Watch, where they consider that ‘a discard ban as proposed in the draft basic regulation of the future CFP is unrealistic and too prescriptive’ and they ‘support instead the inclusion in the basic regulation of the ambitious objective of a significant reduction of discards’. The declaration also considers that ‘this objective should be pursued on a fisheries-based approach, in the framework of the multiannual plans, on the basis of a thorough impact assessment examining for each fishery the causes of discards and assessing the environmental, economic and social impact of the measures foreseen to reduce unwanted catches’.
The discard ban was debated in the Fisheries Council on 19 March 2012, and the exchange was summarised by The Fish Secretariat, which highlights that ‘Overall, it was clear that a majority of countries would be willing to support a discard ban as long as a flexible, step-wise approach was used. Aside from a fishery-by-fishery approach, most countries also called for the solution to be regional, rather than EU-wide. Many member states highlighted that improving selectivity was key to this whole issue, and must be part of the package, in order to avoid catching juvenile fish. It was also said again and again that the EU should make efforts to avoid creating a market for undersized, juvenile fish. In order to achieve that, the new minimum conservation reference sizes must be closely linked to work with selectivity in gear.’
Fish Information & Services reports that, after a two-hour debate, the Commissioner softened her position and agreed that ‘It is clear discards can not be eliminated only by introducing an obligation to land all the fish. What is needed is to fish more selectively and we already have funding under the current Fisheries Fund to switch to more selective gear’.
Editorial comment
The EC has always maintained that the provisions of the discard ban would also apply to fleets fishing outside EU waters. The previous focus on the landing obligation for all catches may have had detrimental impacts on ACP local and regional markets in cases where massive amounts of discards would have been dumped at low prices on these markets. Moreover, the quality and freshness of such fish would probably have been very low – cold storage capacity on board EU vessels fishing in ACP waters being limited, it would have been reserved for the ‘sellable catches’. The change of approach of the EC, triggered by the Council of Ministers, is now focusing on promoting selective fishing, rather than creating a market for discards.
