permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>]

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7102241.stm>
Last Updated: Tuesday, 20 November 2007, 06:00 GMT
Fish dumping 'will ruin industry'

By Jeremy Cooke
BBC rural affairs correspondent

Trawlermen sort through fish
Phil Walsh's crew exceeded their cod quota by June
The UK fishing industry is warning it faces ruin because of EU quotas which result in thousands of tonnes of dead fish 
being dumped back into the sea.

It says fishing crews often continue catching large amounts of fish, such as cod, by accident after exceeding quotas and 
have no option but to dump them.

The practice leaves crews struggling to make a living, while damaging hopes 
for sustainability, say environmentalists.

EU commissioner Joe Borg acknowledges the problem but sees no clear solution.

Tonnes dumped

Quotas strictly limit the amount of fish that each vessel can bring back to port. But there is no such limit on the 
amount of fish they actually catch.

Often, boats fishing in the "mixed fishery" of the North Sea catch a species or size of fish which is not what they were 
targeting.

Trawler skipper Phil Walsh told BBC News the quota for cod and other white fish he and other inshore fishermen were 
allocated by Brussels this year was tiny.

        
Fish are thrown overboard

Life behind the net

By June he had landed all of the cod he was allowed. So, 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 told BBC News.

"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."

Environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund have for years been sounding the alarm bell over the dramatic 
decline of fish stocks in the North Sea.

They say quotas are essential to limit the amount of fish being caught - to ensure that spawning stocks are allowed to 
mature and to breed.

        
I thought I would never see the day that I had to throw adult cod overboard
David Mell

UK fishing in figures

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

Instead, she says, there must be a change in fishing practice.

"Nobody wants discards," she says. "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'."

Out at sea, though, many fishermen insist that life is not that simple. Even the "big boys" of the UK fishing industry, 
the Scotland-based super-trawlers, with their state-of-the-art technology, find it hard to be anything like 100% 
specific in targeting the species and size of their catch.
        
Fish

How trawlers work

And so they, like the hard-pressed inshore fishermen south of the border, are 
discarding huge amounts of good fish.

It is another blow to an industry which has changed and contracted to become 
a shadow of what it was three decades ago.

Trawler skipper David Mell sums it up: "I feel very bitter because we've been 
so long trying to protect the cod.

"[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.

"It doesn't make sense when we have people in this world dying of starvation."

Recovery hope

Many Scottish and English fishermen say they are seeing a huge increase in the number of cod in the North Sea this year 
- perhaps an indication that the quotas of recent years have worked.

They want an increase in the quota level for cod and other white fish they 
catch.

But environmentalists say that, although cod stocks are recovering, now is not the time to increase the amount of fish 
being caught.

One thing both fishermen and environmentalists agree on is that "discarding" 
good fish is bad practice and should stop.

EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg - who is instrumental in setting the laws 
and limits - agrees.

He told us: "In principle, everyone agrees that discarding is bad, it is immoral. 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."

VIDEO AND AUDIO NEWS
Fisheries Minister Jonathan Shaw

SEE ALSO
Cod stocks pilot scheme extended
08 Nov 07 |  North East/N Isles
'Slight recovery' for cod stocks
19 Oct 07 |  Science/Nature
Wasted catches hit Europe's cod
13 Sep 07 |  Science/Nature
Birds Eye puts trust in less cod
03 Aug 07 |  Business
Fishermen hope to land cod deal
04 Jul 07 |  North East/N Isles
Scientists urge North Sea cod ban
07 Jun 07 |  Europe
'Only 50 years left' for sea fish
02 Nov 06 |  Science/Nature

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