Brussels, 02/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - Alain Cadec (EPP, France), who is the deputy chairman of the European Parliament (EP) fisheries committee, has said that there is “no single or miracle solution” to the complex problem of discards. Discards are made up of juvenile fish, too small to be marketed, fish for which the quota has been reached and also by-catches.
Cadec represented France at the conference organised by Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki on ending discards (see EUROPE 10326). “Everyone realises that, ultimately, we will have to end the ecological aberration of discards. However, unlike the Commission which is proposing to ban discards in a sweeping change over a very short space of time, I feel that the issue has to be dealt with in the medium term, working closely with fishermen and scientists” he says in a press release. He adds that using fishing effort is not the way to end discards: “Catch quotas and the principle of relative stability have to be kept. A solution that is tailor-made for each fishery is essential and long-term recovery plans have to be extended to many more species”. In France's view, too, fishermen have to be encouraged to use more selective fishing gear. For some species biological rest periods and biomass quotas might be worth considering. Cadec says: “My feeling is that Commissioner Damanaki was listening to what we said. Most of those who attended the meeting supported the principles that I argued for and, at the end of the meeting, she told us she would bring forward a new proposal that reflected our comments”. L.C./transl.rt)