14 DAY TRIAL // The European Parliament has announced that, in the aftermath of several campaigns rolled out by conservationists and green groups, it has agreed to support a ban that would make it illegal for fishermen to dump part of their catches overboard.
Information shared with the public says that the new Common Fisheries Policy will come into effect in just a few weeks, on January 1, 2014.
According to several reports, European fishermen are currently required to discard the edible fish that they catch and for which they do not have quotas. Unwanted species and fish whose size is considered to be “incorrect” are also thrown back in the ocean.
Green groups say that, throughout the course of just one year, this leads to over one million tons of perfectly good fish being thrown overboard. Needless to say, these fishing practices do not exactly spell “sustainability,” which is why the European Parliament has agreed to do away with them.
Under the new Common Fisheries Policy, not only will fish discards be outlawed, but annual quotas will be established by consulting with specialists. Besides, EU member states will be allowed to take individual decisions to promote sustainability across their fisheries.
“The long fight to reform the broken Common Fisheries Policy and end the shameful practice of perfectly good fish being thrown dead back into the sea has been won,” UK Fisheries Minister George Eustice commented on the importance of this initiative, as cited by Environmental News Service.
“Today’s vote signifies a new chapter for the CFP that will make fishing more sustainable, will end the centralized one-size-fits-all approach to decision making and will make discards a thing of the past,” he added.
The Telegraph tells us that, at first, the fish discards ban will target species such as mackerel, herring, sardines and anchovies. In about two years' time, it will be extended to other species.