Seafood processors have teamed up with fishermen, industry body Seafish and government to address discards (unwanted by-catches, which are returned to the sea).
Discarding unwanted fish is widely acknowledged as an issue affecting almost all fisheries and fishing methods. Although significant progress has already been made towards reducing the levels of discards, it is now accepted that the rate of change needs to be stepped up, said Seafish. Discards occur primarily because of markets or regulations - either there are no markets for the fish because they are non-commercial or they need to be thrown back as they are legally too small to land, or are over quota.
“We need to talk to processors and retailers to create markets for edible fish that are currently discarded,” said Phil MacMullen, head of environment at Seafish who is leading the group. “With regionality and seasonality clearly on the agenda when it comes to food, there must be scope for new markets here.”
However, he explained that one of the first tasks for the group was to understand in depth the reasons why discarding occurs. “We will then actively seek out all the solutions that certain fishermen are currently using as many of these could be adopted more widely,” he said.
“We also need to harness all our industry expertise in devising creative, new solutions that are applicable to our fisheries in the UK. In parallel with this work, policy on discards needs to be addressed - this is already happening at an EU level.”
Paul Trebilcock of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation said: “Fishermen are inherently inventive and many have already devised different ways to reduce discards, by choosing the areas where they fish or by modifying their gear. Discarding simply doesn’t make sense commercially or environmentally so it’s in all our interests to come up with answers. With support from Seafish we will bring together all the different solutions that suit different types of fishing and share that knowledge with all UK fishermen.”
Joe Borg, EU Commissioner responsible for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, announced a review of policy under the Common Fisheries Policy in March of this year with a view to addressing discards across the EU. The newly formed industry group will engage as appropriate with the EU consultation process, and will help to implement solutions that come from the EU review.
Members of the discards action group include: the Food and Drink Federation; the British Retail Consortium; and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.