23 July 2007

THE FISHING industry is pulling together to cut down on the amount of fish discarded from catches.

Discarding is when fishermen throw fish back to sea, usually because there are no markets for the species, the catch is over quota or they are legally too small to land.

Industry advisory body Seafish has now helped set up a specialised group made up of fishermen and their representatives to significantly reduce discards.

The Scottish industry, working with the Scottish Executive, has already started to work up practical proposals, fishery by fishery, that will influence positively the Commission's work on regulatory measures on discards.

Bertie Armstrong, Chief Executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, reports: "Each sector will define what the current level is and the reasons behind it, looking then for practical reduction measures. Work will also be funded by the newly launched Scottish Industry/Science Partnership, for example, gear selectivity measures and research to define North Sea areas of concentration of juvenile or spawning cod."

Other proposals include opening new markets for certain fish and using industry expertise to create innovative ideas to reduce discarding.

Head of Environment at Seafish Phil MacMullen said: “The ingenuity of fishermen in devising practical solutions can not be underestimated.

“With the industry’s help, we will provide a way of sharing that information with the whole fleet to reduce discards significantly.”