France, Denmark and Spain are not adequately controlling compliance with the rules on the ban, for fishers, on fish discards at sea, according to a report published on Tuesday 15 October by the organisation ClientEarth.
This organisation also criticises these countries for not having punished fishers who do not comply with this rule, which requires all catches to be landed in ports. About 1.7 million tonnes of fish and other marine animals are being thrown back into the sea each year.
The main conclusions of the reports (one per country) show that: - French fishers only implemented their obligations (declarations) under the landing obligation rules in 2019 and no infringements in this area have been sanctioned by the French authorities. A pilot project to use remote electronic surveillance to control the landing obligation is planned for 2020; - no infringements of these rules were sanctioned in Spain in 2017 and 2018 and the country reports very low catches and landings of fish below the minimum conservation size. The authorities shall endeavour to improve the selectivity of fishing gear; - the Danish authorities have reported only three infringements of the rules of the ban on discards in 2017 and 2018 and less than 1% of cod catches are subject to inspection at sea. In 2018, 382 tonnes of fish were legally discarded due to derogations granted by the authorities.
The landing obligation started to be implemented in 2015 and 2019 is the deadline for introducing this rule resulting from the 2013 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)