14 DAY TRIAL // Two days ago, on the 13th of June, members of the EU Council sat down and talked about how present fish discarding practices must be stopped.
For those unaware, fish discarding basically refers to returning dead / dying unwanted fish back to the sea, either because the fishermen have successfully met their quota for the day, or simply because the fish belong to the “wrong” species.
Since this practice hardly seems environmentally friendly – or even ethical, for that matter –, a ban will be implemented as soon as possible.
However, no firm date for the introduction of this new policy has yet been agreed upon.
Rumor has it that a ban against discarding mackerel and herring will be up and running by the 1st of January 2014, at the earliest.
One other ban, which focuses on whitefish such as cod, haddock, plaice and sole is expected to be in place by the 1st of January 2018, reports News STV.
What sparked interest into this matter is the fact that UK citizens, taken aback by this practice, urged high official to act on it as soon as possible.
According to FishUpdate, Richard Benyon, UK's fisheries minister, explained that “It was always my aim to get the council to agree to end this wasteful practice as soon as possible. While I am disappointed that the council has not agreed the firm dates that I was seeking, a commitment to eliminating discards is a step in the right direction.”
Seeing how banning fish discarding practices means that the Common Fisheries Policy must be tampered with, is it quite likely that it will take some time before some actual results are seen.
However, as far as we are concerned, it is nevertheless a good thing that something is being done to ensure the protection of our marine wildlife.