What factors cause you to discard fish ?

Disclaimer : The views expressed in this report are those of the stakeholders that were interviewed and in no way represent the views of the research institutes, the national authorities or the European Commission.

Commonalities

The main commonalities of what causes discarding across the different regions are in: Quota restrictions and “choke species” were identified as key drivers of discarding in Ireland, France, Denmark, the Azores and the Balearics. This is not necessarily surprising, but important that all identified this as a key issue. In the Balearics, where there are no official quotas, the main drivers appeared to be unwanted bycatch. In Greece-North Aegean Sea, there was also no mention of “choke” species. Small fish in the catch, generally

Specifics

• 1. Quota management was mentioned as an issue in Ireland where monthly quota allocation was identified as a driver. This management approach is unique to Ireland.
• 2. The main driver in the Balearics appears to be catches of small (‹MCRS) fish, often but not always of a single species within either a targeted or mixed fishery.
• 3. In France one of the main causes of discarding mentioned by individual fishers is the high-grading practised by POs for all species but more particularly for less valuable species. Fishers call that “no price”.
• 4. In France another cause mentioned is the EU regulation on catch composition (Council Regulation (EC) No. 850/98,etc). To fulfil the EU regulation on catch composition, they keep no valuable species quotas for trips catching cod. Leading to discards of “other species” to be able to land cod during some period of the year.
• 5. Small deep trawlers and netters practising direct sale of fish (Dieppe and Boulogne, Etaples) don’t have the same attitude towards “species without commercial value” because they “need to garnish their stalls with variety of species”. So they discard less “species without commercial value” than other boats marketing their catches through auction.
• 6. In the Azores, some unwanted catches are used for bait, or consumed by the crew. Use as bait will likely only occur for passive gear fisheries. Likely high survival was also suggested.

By clicking on the orange bullet you will get Fishermen interviews. Material is based on WP4.1 Delivrable

Citation :

Fiche What factors cause you to discard fish ?, Author(s) : Dave Reid


DiscardLess Atlas [on line]. 2017. Reid et al., 2017. DiscardLess Deliverable D4.1: Initial avoidance manuals by case study including tactical, strategic and gear based approaches agreed by scientists and fishers. http://www.discardless.eu/fishermen_story