Brussels, 08/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - Fishermen should be aware that it is in their own interest to reduce discards, argued Ragnar Arnason, an economist at the University of Iceland on Monday 7 April. He was presenting the findings of his study on the “Best Practice on the Use of Rights-Based Management to Reduce Discards in Mixed Fisheries” to the European Parliament fisheries committee.
This expert cited the examples of countries such as Iceland, Namibia, Norway, New Zealand and the US, which introduced transferable fishing concessions (a kind of quotas market). Arnason believes that these countries were successful in achieving “relatively low” discard rates thanks to transferable fishing rights and a raft of other measures: enhanced inspections, net selectivity, raising awareness on ending discards and quota flexibility etc. He said that discard rates for cod and haddock are now at rates of only 1% and 2% in Iceland, (a spectacular fall in the number of discards from 2000).
Arnason's recommendations are as follows: - robust application of limits on discards; - stepping up inspections; - severe and very heavy penalties; - more selectivity in fish catches; - information campaigns; - easily negotiable transferable quotas; - postponements of some of the quotas by a year; - the transfer of quotas from one species of fish to another. He acknowledged, however, that fishermen used discards to “optimise profits and it wasn't just a matter of negligence”. The EU is committed to gradually reducing the number of discards (from 2015) and has given its authorisation to countries that want to introduce transferable fishing concessions. (LC)